"
Mrs. Henderson nodded, being sparing of words.
"I've some letters from them," she said loudly, "and if you come out to the
kitchen, I will stay and read them to you."
"What did you say was the matter in the kitchen?" demanded Grandma, in
alarm. "Oh, them dirty hens, I s'pose, has got in again."
"I have letters from the Pepper children, and they ask me to come over here
and read them to you," shouted Mrs. Henderson. "Dear me!"--to
herself--"what shall I do? I'm all tired out already, and three letters to
read--she won't hear a word."
But Grandma, having caught the word "letters," knew quite well what was in
store, so, picking up her best gown by its side breadths, she waddled out
and seated herself with great dignity in a big chair by the kitchen window.
It was next to the little stand in whose drawer she used to let Joel Pepper
look for peppermints.
When the Pepper children shut up the little brown house to go to Mr.
King's, Grandma moved the small mahogany stand from its place next to the
head of her bed out into the kitchen. She kept her big Bible on it, and her
knitting work, where she could "have 'em handy." And it made her feel less
lonesome to look up from her work to see it standing there.
"Seem's though that boy was a-comin' in every minute," she said. "My land
o' Goshen, don't I wish he was!" for Grandma always had a soft spot in her
heart for Joel.
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