gone he'll grow old at last, and lie alone dreaming of you, and
looking--while there's none but strangers by to spurn him. No,
sometimes I think it's better not to have a dog for a friend."

Everychild was thinking about this when Tom suddenly reached for his
hat, which he had placed by his side. "Perhaps we'd better be getting
along," he said, "without waiting to tell her good-by. After all,
there's no telling when she'll be here."

Everychild did not like to go without having seen Old Mother Hubbard;
but there seemed no way to suggest this, and he was just rising to his
feet when there was a bustling sound outside the door.

"She's coming now," said Tom in a whisper. "She'll be here right
away." He was dreadfully uneasy. He added in a tone of apology, "Just
make the best of it, won't you, if she's ugly? It will blow over in a
minute or two."

And then the front door was opened briskly and Old Mother Hubbard
entered the room.




CHAPTER XIII

A TERRIBLE LADY AT HOME

She came into the room in the manner of one who was about to say,
"Fellow-citizens!" But she said nothing just at first. She took a few