"Is it 'cause he is sick?" said she to Linda.
Linda thought it was.
Next morning, bright and early, Patty had to run home to help Moses turn out the cows; there were nine of them, and it took two, besides the dog Towler, to get them to pasture. She told her mother what she had heard in the night, and her mother looked very sober; but Rachel spoke up quickly,—
"I'll tell you, Patty, what makes Fred Chase have such sick turns; he drinks too much brandy."
"Yes," said big brother John; "that fellow keeps a bottle in his room the whole time."
"Is it his mamma's bottle?" asked Patty; for it flashed over her all at once that perhaps that was the reason Mrs. Chase didn't have a bottle to cry into, because Fred kept it up in his room—full of brandy.
Nobody knew what she meant by asking "if it was his mamma's bottle;" so no one answered; but Mrs. Lyman said,—
"You see, Patty, it can't be very pleasant at Linda's house, even if she does have calico dresses that stand alone."
"It don't quite stand alone, mamma."
"And I hope you won't cry again, my daughter, for pretty things like hers."