She could make her fortune in time." And Mrs. Roberts smiled, and
assented to the statement, but not to the proposition. There was no
dressmaking establishment known to her where she was willing to place so
young and pretty and ignorant a girl. But she was quite willing that
Mart should learn the looping of dresses, and the fitting of sacks and
collars and ruffles; and take many a stitch for her, as well as for
Gracie. She was willing to have her do a dozen little nameless things,
the ways of doing which she had caught up; until at last the touch of
her fingers began to be felt about the rooms, and Mrs. Roberts began to
notice that she should miss Mart when she went away. Still, from the
first time she said this, the thought came afterward with a smile of
satisfaction, and it was but a week afterward that she caught herself
phrasing it, that she should miss her _if_ she went away.
What about Dirk? Young Ried could have told you more of him during these
days than anybody else. He still stayed at the boarding-house. Mrs.
Saunders, the mistress of it, was one whom, if you had known her, you
would feel sure could interest herself heartily in such as he. There was
a bit of a room next to Ried's. To be sure, it had been used for a
clothes-press, and it took the busy housekeeper half a day to plan how
she could get along without it; but she planned, and offered it to Ried
for his _protege_.
Pages:
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320