I dont think, Mary, you quite realise how
necessaryit is for me to leave no stone unturned. She changes her underclothing
every day of the week.
Little boys who ran away in the bush ALWAYS
gotlost, and never saw their Mammas and Papas again. It was five guineas here, ten
there; ascompared with the petty fees he had commanded at Hawthorn. Mary dissuaded
him from hiring a buggy and driving out to seewhat had happened. Cousin Emmy said
only tothink of it made her sick.
It was Mary,too, who applied restoratives and
helped to clean up thepatient. Well, perhaps youll rouse yourself andtell me what I
ought to do. Angusmeeting them, and sitting on the log and talking. Besides, they
didnt seem as if theyWANTED to speak to you. Whatever you do, dont say a thing like
thatbefore Cuffy! Here, where no future beckoned, it seemed justa matter of toiling
for toils sake.
The four of them were out for their morning walk,
and sat resting on afallen tree. But Papa just laughed andtwirled on, the Dumplings
faithfully imitating him, till, crash, bang!
But Papa just laughed andtwirled on, the Dumplings
faithfully imitating him, till, crash, bang! My dear, Lizzies sentiments would be
the same, and were it Croesusand Adonis rolled into one. Advancing at a jogtrot,
their owner seatedhimself on the tree and took Emmys hand in his. No, thetruth is,
shes just too pretty to be of the least practical use. Cuffy heard them talking, and
she sounded cross. Havent I told you herstomach will not stand them?
It entirely spoilt the garden, with its noise and
dust.
Marys aid was needed here, to hold the womans
hands. And then Cousin Emmy had come to stay with them. It left her, of course, much
freer todeal with things. If Emmy cant look after her own little cousins. Or had he,
in burying himself in this wildbush, committed the crowning folly of his life? No,
thats out-and-away unfair, cried Mary, thoroughlyroused. Impatiently she shook her
head and turned to listen to voices in thepassage. No, thetruth is, shes just too
pretty to be of the least practical use.