"Uncle, who is that girl on the porch?" she asked in an undertone.
"That we don't know; says her name is Moore, and that she wants work.
Kind of sounds like a fairy story, don't it, Kate?"
"Poor thing, poor thing!" was Kate's only answer.
"Amasy," said Mrs. Bartlett, assuming all the courage of a rabbit about
to assert itself, "this family is bigger than it was with Kate home and
the professor here, and I am not getting younger--I want you to let me
keep this young woman to help me about the house."
The Squire set his jaw, always an ominous sign to his family. "I don't
like this takin' strangers, folks we know nothing about; it's mighty
suspicious to see a young woman tramping around the country, without a
home, looking for work. I don't like it."
The girl, who sat apart while these strangers considered taking her in,
as if she had been a friendless dog, arose, her eyes were full of unshed
tears, her voice quivered, but pride supported her. Turning to the
Squire, she said: "You are suspicious because you are blest with both home and family. My
mother died a few months ago, I myself have been ill. I make this
explanation not because your kindness warrants it, sir, but because your
family would have been willing to take me on faith." She bowed her head
in the direction of Mrs. Bartlett and Dave.
"Well," the Squire interrupted, "you need not go away hungry, you can
stop here and eat your dinner, and then Hi Holler can take you in the
wagon to the place provided for such unfortunate cases, and where you'll
have food and shelter."
"The poor farm, do you mean?" the girl said, wildly; "no, no; if you will
not give me work I will not take your charity."
"Father!" exclaimed Dave and his mother together.
"Now, now," said Kate, going up to the Squire and putting her hands on
his shoulders, "it seems to me as if my uncle's been getting a little
hard while I've been away from home, and I don't think it has improved
him a bit. The uncle I left here had a heart as big as a house. What
has he done with it?"
Here the professor came to Kate's aid. "Squire," said he, "isn't it
written that 'If ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me?'"