"What makes you try to get up, if your head is so bad?"
"Oh, what makes me! What else is there for me to do? The young ones are both up, and if I find the roof left on the house I'll be thankful. I never knew them to stay together five minutes without having a battle."
At almost any other time in her life these words would have made Kitty very angry; but this morning she was intent on not letting her tea spill over on the toast, and so paid very little attention to them.
Tip marched boldly in with his dish, Kitty following.
"Lie still, mother, till you get some of our tea and toast, and I reckon it will cure you."
Mrs. Lewis raised herself on one elbow, saw the beautiful brown slices, caught a whiff of the fragrant tea, then asked wonderingly,—
"Who's here?"
"Kitty and me," Tip made answer, proudly and promptly.
Something very like a smile gathered on Mrs. Lewis's worn, fretful face.
"Well, now," she said, "if I ain't beat! It's the last thing on earth I ever expected you to do."