Mistress Mehitable had just time to thrust aside her needle and the fine fabric she was fashioning before Barbara flung herself into her arms, sobbing passionately. The good lady's heart warmed in response to this outburst, and she held Barbara close to her breast, whispering, "There, there, dearie, we just won't talk about it at all! We'll just try hard to understand each other better in the future!"
At the same moment, while her eyes were filling with tears, she could not help a whimsical thought of what Doctor John would say. "He would say,"—she said to herself at the back of her brain,—"'Seed-cakes may save a soul quicker than switchings, Mehitable!'" Mistress Mehitable's earnest mind had no apprehension of humour save as it reached her by reflection from Doctor John or Doctor Jim.
Presently Barbara found her voice.
"Forgive me, Aunt Hitty, forgive me!" she sobbed.
Mistress Mehitable held her a little closer by way of reply.
"I'm not worth your while, Aunt Hitty—I'm not one bit worth all the trouble you take for me—I'm nothing but a wretched little reptile, Aunt Hitty,—and I just wonder you don't hate and despise me!"
"There, there, dear," murmured Mistress Mehitable, patting her hair. She was sure of her feelings, but could not be quite sure that words would rightly express them at this crisis. If she talked, she knew she might say the wrong thing. She'd leave it all to Barbara, and be safe at least for the moment.
"I knew how bad I was," continued Barbara, justifying the statement by remembrance of some brief and scattered moments of self-questioning. "I knew how bad I was, but I couldn't say so, and I never, never knew how lovely you could be, Aunt Hitty! I was so dreading to see you this morning,—and then, oh, you just brought me the seed-cakes, and the yellow raspberries, and never said one word!"
As she dwelt on this magnanimity, Barbara's sobs broke forth afresh.
"There, there, dear," murmured Mistress Mehitable again, and kissed her tenderly, still refusing to be drawn from her intrenchments, but deeply rejoicing in the triumph of her new strategy.