FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97  
98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   >>   >|  
you." Sara started, and all at once realized that she looked exactly like poor children she had seen, in her better days, waiting on the pavement to watch her as she got out of her brougham. And she had given them pennies many a time. Her face went red and then it went pale, and for a second she felt as if she could not take the dear little sixpence. "Oh, no!" she said. "Oh, no, thank you; I mustn't take it, indeed!" Her voice was so unlike an ordinary street child's voice and her manner was so like the manner of a well-bred little person that Veronica Eustacia (whose real name was Janet) and Rosalind Gladys (who was really called Nora) leaned forward to listen. But Guy Clarence was not to be thwarted in his benevolence. He thrust the sixpence into her hand. "Yes, you must take it, poor little girl!" he insisted stoutly. "You can buy things to eat with it. It is a whole sixpence!" There was something so honest and kind in his face, and he looked so likely to be heartbrokenly disappointed if she did not take it, that Sara knew she must not refuse him. To be as proud as that would be a cruel thing. So she actually put her pride in her pocket, though it must be admitted her cheeks burned. "Thank you," she said. "You are a kind, kind little darling thing." And as he scrambled joyfully into the carriage she went away, trying to smile, though she caught her breath quickly and her eyes were shining through a mist. She had known that she looked odd and shabby, but until now she had not known that she might be taken for a beggar. As the Large Family's carriage drove away, the children inside it were talking with interested excitement. "Oh, Donald," (this was Guy Clarence's name), Janet exclaimed alarmedly, "why did you offer that little girl your sixpence? I'm sure she is not a beggar!" "She didn't speak like a beggar!" cried Nora. "And her face didn't really look like a beggar's face!" "Besides, she didn't beg," said Janet. "I was so afraid she might be angry with you. You know, it makes people angry to be taken for beggars when they are not beggars." "She wasn't angry," said Donald, a trifle dismayed, but still firm. "She laughed a little, and she said I was a kind, kind little darling thing. And I was!"--stoutly. "It was my whole sixpence." Janet and Nora exchanged glances. "A beggar girl would never have said that," decided Janet. "She would have said, 'Thank yer kindly, little ge
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97  
98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

sixpence

 

beggar

 

looked

 
manner
 
stoutly
 

Donald

 
carriage
 

darling

 

children

 

beggars


Clarence
 

shining

 

burned

 

admitted

 

cheeks

 
quickly
 

breath

 

caught

 

joyfully

 
scrambled

shabby

 
trifle
 

dismayed

 

people

 

laughed

 

decided

 

kindly

 
exchanged
 

glances

 

afraid


talking

 

interested

 

excitement

 

inside

 

Family

 

exclaimed

 

alarmedly

 

Besides

 

pocket

 

insisted


street

 

ordinary

 

unlike

 

pennies

 

realized

 

started

 
waiting
 

brougham

 

pavement

 

person