Here the baby was crying upon the floor, while Mr. Brady smoked his pipe in the corner. Through the window Elizabeth could see their own garden fence, with the fruit trees beyond, and above them the windows of the closed room.
"If you don't mind, I should like to stay here awhile," she said. "I won't be any trouble, really, Mrs. Brady, and I might help you to take care of the baby."
The child had seated herself on the extreme edge of the only available chair in the room. Mrs. Brady stood with her hands on her hips, looking at her, with a daughter on either side.
"Well, I never!" said she at last. "I can't think yer really mean it. Pop, what do yer say to it?"
Mr. Brady smoked in silence for some minutes. Then he removed his pipe, and remarked, in a surly tone:
"If the old ladies is willin' to pay us han'some for it, I 'ain't got no objections. If we take boarders, of course we look for boarders' pay."
Having made this statement, he replaced his pipe. His wife and daughters again looked at Elizabeth.
"What old ladies?" she asked.
"It's yer aunts he is afther meanin', miss. As pop says, we 'ain't got no objections to takin' boarders."
"Oh, but I am afraid I can't pay you just now. My aunts don't know where I am, you know, and I don't want them to. I haven't any money of my own now, but I will have when I grow up, and I will pay you then, Mrs. Brady—indeed I will."