pirates and attend their own funerals. They had paddled over to the
Missouri shore on a log, at dusk on Saturday, landing five or six miles
below the village; they had slept in the woods at the edge of the town
till nearly daylight, and had then crept through back lanes and alleys
and finished their sleep in the gallery of the church among a chaos of
invalided benches.
At breakfast, Monday morning, Aunt Polly and Mary were very loving to
Tom, and very attentive to his wants. There was an unusual amount of
talk. In the course of it Aunt Polly said:
Well, I don t say it wasn t a fine joke, Tom, to keep everybody
suffering most a week so you boys had a good time, but it is a pity you
could be so hard-hearted as to let me suffer so. If you could come over
on a log to go to your funeral, you could have come over and give me a
hint some way that you warn t dead, but only run off.
Yes, you could have done that, Tom, said Mary; and I believe you
would if you had thought of it.
Would you, Tom? said Aunt Polly, her face lighting wistfully. Say,
now, would you, if you d thought of it?
I well, I don t know. Twould a spoiled everything.
Tom, I hoped you loved me that much, said Aunt Polly, with a grieved
tone that discomforted the boy. It would have been something if you d
cared enough to _think_ of it, even if you didn t _do_ it.
Now, auntie, that ain t any harm, pleaded Mary; it s only Tom s giddy
way he is always in such a rush that he never thinks of anything.
More s the pity. Sid would have thought. And Sid would have come and
_done_ it, too. Tom, you ll look back, some day, when it s too late,
and wish you d cared a little more for me when it would have cost you so
little.
Now, auntie, you know I do care for you, said Tom.
I d know it better if you acted more like it.
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