Joe thought it best
not to refer to the child, nor to manifest any concern in regard to
her.
"How soon will supper be ready?" he asked.
"Right soon," answered Mrs. Thompson, beginning to bustle about.
There was no asperity in her voice.
After washing from his hands and face the dust and soil of work, Joe
left the kitchen, and went to the little bedroom. A pair of large
bright eyes looked up at him from the snowy bed; looked at him
tenderly, gratefully, pleadingly. How his heart swelled in his
bosom! With what a quicker motion came the heart-beats! Joe sat
down, and now, for the first time, examining the thin free carefully
under the lamp light, saw that it was an attractive face, and full
of a childish sweetness which suffering had not been able to
obliterate.
"Your name is Maggie?" he said, as he sat down and took her soft
little hand in his.
"Yes, sir." Her voice struck a chord that quivered in a low strain
of music.
"Have you been sick long?"
"Yes, sir." What a sweet patience was in her tone!
"Has the doctor been to see you?"
"He used to come."
"But not lately?"
"No, sir."
"Have you any pain?"
"Sometimes, but not now.
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