But Pecy had already caught the bee and crushed him against the table-cloth with the broom-handle.
Sadie looked at Lucy, the “lady abbess,” to see how long she meant to allow such behavior to go on; but Lucy had become discouraged, and was retreating to the kitchen.
“I must go and pick over the rice for dinner. I suppose you don’t know, Sadie, whether three pounds will make pudding enough for six people?” said she, putting the rice in the only kettle the house afforded, and pouring over it two quarts of water. No, Sadie did not know.
The unbidden guest, forgetting that her cow had not been milked, stood looking on, as saucy as an English cuckoo in a hedge-sparrow’s nest. It would not appear that she intended the least harm; she was simply a little half-starved, wild creature, and the sight of the raisins gave her a hungry longing, which Lucy was unable to comprehend, or she would have admired the poor thing’s self-denial in not teasing, and would have given her gladly a handful of the coveted sweets.
Camp Comfort, with its merry, careless child-tenants and abundance of food, seemed an earthly paradise to wretched little Pecy. She had never ventured so boldly into any other house, even the humble Browns and Pecks, as into this one, which had no responsible grown people in it; nobody really old enough to command her to leave.
“Is this here your dog, Lucy?” said she, caressing the pug. “His nose turns up some like yours. I never see such a queer dog.”
“And I never saw such a queer girl,” said Lucy, reddening. “Are you the protector of this family, Preston Gray? General Townsend told mother he felt easy about us with you here; but if you haven’t authority enough to keep tramps away, perhaps we’ll have to call on Bert or Jack.”
This sarcasm aroused Preston.
“Miss Pancake,” said he solemnly, “do you see this gun?” taking it from the corner. “Perhaps you may not know that I am a soldier in the regular army; and when people do not behave well it is my business to shoot them.”