A frightened expression came into the big brown eyes, and the girl's lip began to tremble.
"I don't know," she said; "I can't remember. Won't you please give me something to eat?"
"Where in the World Did You Come from?"—Page 19.
"I know I'm dreaming," said Marjorie, and she pinched her arm, but though the pinch hurt considerably, she did not wake up. The strange girl continued to stand in the doorway.
"How—how did you get here?" she repeated; "where did you come from?"
"I got off the train. I've walked ever so far, and it was so hot. I thought there would be houses, but there weren't any. You won't be cross with me, will you? I'm afraid of cross people."
"Why did you get off the train?" inquired Marjorie. If this were not a dream, then it was certainly the most extraordinary adventure she had ever had.
The brown eyes filled with tears, and the stranger clasped her hands nervously.
"Don't scold, ah, please don't," she pleaded; "I'm so tired of being scolded. I got off the train because Mrs. Hicks was so cross I couldn't stand it any longer. She said I was a lazy, good-for-nothing girl, and she wished she had never promised to take me to Kansas. I said I wished she hadn't either, and that I didn't want to go to Kansas or anywhere else with her, and then she said I was an impudent little wretch, and she wished she could get rid of me. She slapped me, too, and that made me furious, so when she sent me to the dining-car to get some milk for the baby, and the train was standing still, I just got off. I don't want to stay with people who don't like me, and I can't stand being slapped."