nd Miss Goldy-hair," said Tom.

"I don't see that it's much good to have found her," said I. I was
rather dull and sorry about Tom, and I didn't know what more to do to
amuse him. "I don't believe we'll see her for ever so long, and perhaps
she'll forget about us as she has such a lot of children she cares for."

"But they're _poor_ children," said Tom, "she can't like them as much as
us. She said so."

"She didn't mean it that way," I said. "She'd be very angry if she'd
heard you say that, as if poor children weren't as good as rich ones."

"But she _did_ say so," persisted Tom. "When I asked her if going to see
the poor children was as nice as if she had us always, she said no."

"Well, she meant it wasn't as nice as if she was mother and had her
own children always. She didn't mean anything about because they were
poor. _I_ believe she likes poor children best. Lots of people do, and
I'm sure we've lots of trouble too, though we're not poor. If we'd been
poor like the ones in _Little Meg's Children_, or _Froggy's Brother
Ben_, Miss Goldy-hair would have been here _ever_ so early this morning,
with blankets and coals, and milk, and bread and sugar--"

"And 'tawberry dam and delly and 'ponge cakes and olanges and
eberysing," interrupted Racey, coming forward from his corner.

[Illustration: In walked Miss Goldy-hair herself!]

I had been "working myself up," as Pierson used to call it, and I was
fast persuading myself that Miss Goldy-hair was very unkind, and that
after all we were poor deserted little creatures, but for all that I
couldn't help laughing at Racey breaking in with his list of what he
thought the greatest delicacies. Tom laughed too-- I must say in some
ways Tom was a very good little boy in spite of his sore throat, and
Racey was standing with his head on one side considering what more he
would wish for in Miss Goldy-hair's basket, when--_wasn't_ it
funny?--there came a little tap at the door, and almost before we could
say "come in," it opened, and--oh, how delighted we were--in walked Miss
Goldy-hair herself!

She was smiling with pleasure at our surprise, and wonderful to say, she
was carrying a big, big basket, such a big basket that Tom, who had
very nice manners for a boy, jumped up at once to help her with it, and
in the nice way she had she let him think he was helping her a great
deal, though really she kept all the weight of it herself, till between
them they got it landed safely on t