"I wonder you do," she said. "I suppose you get starved, and can't help
it, now and then. There's some dinner I saved for you. If you want it,
eat it, and then take yourself to some place that suits you better."
As she spoke, she jerked open the door of a little cupboard near which
she stood, and brought therefrom a much-cracked plate, on which lay a
baked potato, with one end broken or bitten off, then carefully
replaced, as if the owner might have had a second thought as to its
disposal; there was also a bit of corn-bread, somewhat burned, and half
of a roasted apple.
Meagre as the fare was for a hungry boy, there was more variety than he
had expected, and something in the simple preparation touched him, and
quieted his anger.
"Where did this come from?" he asked, taking in the unaccustomed morsel
of apple with two eager bites. "I tell you, that is good!"
"Sally Calkins gave it to me last night. She got one give to her
somewhere."
Just as the last bite was gone, it occurred to Dirk, first to wonder,
and then to be almost certain, that his sister, having shared the apple,
had saved her entire share for him. It was not the first time he had
known of such an effort on her part to supply him with food.
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