Why, our Dickon s eyes nearly started out o his head, they got that
round, answered Martha. But mother, she was put out about your
seemin to be all by yourself like. She said, Hasn t Mr. Craven got no
governess for her, nor no nurse? and I said, No, he hasn t, though
Mrs. Medlock says he will when he thinks of it, but she says he mayn t
think of it for two or three years.
I don t want a governess, said Mary sharply.
But mother says you ought to be learnin your book by this time an
you ought to have a woman to look after you, an she says: Now,
Martha, you just think how you d feel yourself, in a big place like
that, wanderin about all alone, an no mother. You do your best to
cheer her up, she says, an I said I would.
Mary gave her a long, steady look.
You do cheer me up, she said. I like to hear you talk.
Presently Martha went out of the room and came back with something held
in her hands under her apron.
What does tha think, she said, with a cheerful grin. I ve brought
thee a present.
A present! exclaimed Mistress Mary. How could a cottage full of
fourteen hungry people give anyone a present!
A man was drivin across the moor peddlin , Martha explained. An he
stopped his cart at our door. He had pots an pans an odds an ends,
but mother had no money to buy anythin . Just as he was goin away our
Lizabeth Ellen called out, Mother, he s got skippin -ropes with red
an blue handles. An mother she calls out quite sudden, Here, stop,
mister! How much are they? An he says Tuppence , an mother she
began fumblin in her pocket an she says to me, Martha, tha s brought
me thy wages like a good lass, an I ve got four places to put every
penny, but I m just goin to take tuppence out of it to buy that child
a skippin -rope, an she bought one an here it is.
She brought it out from under her apron and exhibited it quite proudly.
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