He hugged her to show his gratitude. "My son," she said, patting his back.
"Listen, John," she went on, "while I speak to you!"
"Yes, ma!"
"Don't forget that Eleanor's a young girl with no one to tell her things. She's very young, and ... and!..." She stumbled over her words. "You'll be very kind to her, won't you, son?"
"Of course, I will, ma," John replied with no comprehension whatever of what it was she was trying to say.
Then she let him go back to Eleanor.
They gathered in the hall to make their "Good-byes." There was a telegram from the Creams to wish them happiness that Eleanor insisted on taking with her although she had never seen the Creams; and Miss Squibb mournfully insisted on giving a packet of sandwiches to them to eat on the journey. She told them that they knew what these trains and boats were like, and that they would be lucky if they got anything at all to sustain them during their travels. "Though you probably won't want to eat nothink when you get on the boat," she added encouragingly.
"Good-bye! Good-bye! Good-bye!"
John went up the hall to Lizzie. "Good-bye, Lizzie!" he said, and then, "What on earth are you crying for?"
"I dunno," she answered, wiping her eyes. "Just 'appiness, I s'pose. I'll be doin' it myself some dy. See if I down't. It'd annoy aunt, anyway!"