The Trail of the Lonesome Pine by John Fox
page 71 of 363 (19%)
page 71 of 363 (19%)
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"No you ain't--I bet you got dinner fer yo" step-mammy afore you
left, an' I jes' know you was aimin' to take a snack with me an' ole Hon." The little girl hesitated--she had no denial--and the old fellow smiled kindly. "Come on, now." Little June walked on the other side of the miller from Hale back to the old man's cabin, two hundred yards up the road, answering his questions but not Hale's and never meeting the latter's eyes with her own. "ole Hon," the portly old woman whom Hale remembered, with brass-rimmed spectacles and a clay pipe in her mouth, came out on the porch and welcomed them heartily under the honeysuckle vines. Her mouth and face were alive with humour when she saw Hale, and her eyes took in both him and the little girl keenly. The miller and Hale leaned chairs against the wall while the girl sat at the entrance of the porch. Suddenly Hale went out to his horse and took out a package from his saddle-pockets. "I've got some candy in here for you," he said smiling. "I don't want no candy," she said, still not looking at him and with a little movement of her knees away from him. "Why, honey," said Uncle Billy again, "whut IS the matter with ye? I thought ye was great friends." The little girl rose hastily. "No, we ain't, nuther," she said, and she whisked herself indoors. Hale put the package back with some embarrassment and the old miller laughed. |
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