Will you give me more room, that I may establish myself
just quite enough to make it pleasant, and then I can let my friend have
my house (upon condition of her retaining my old help, which I shall not
permit to be a trouble to her financially), and through your favor I may
help another. I should have asked it long ago, but I waited for my boy
to come and taste the air of your home here, and since he loves you as
well as I do, may we stay?"
And she held her little white hands toward us, and opened her blue eyes
wide.
Of course we all gladly consented.
Then she clapped her hands, and turning to Louis, said:
"Louis Robert, thank them."
And he bowed and said in his own expressive way:
"We will try to appreciate your kindness."
I knew then what the covered chairs meant, but I secretly wondered "How
on airth," as Aunt Hildy used to say, all those moveables were to be got
into our house. This thought was running through my head when Clara
spoke, crossing the room as she did so, and taking my father's hand--and
he was such a reserved man that no one else would ever have dreamed of
doing so.
"Mr. Minot, I have not finished yet. Would you grant me one thing more?
May I have a little bit of your ground on the west side of your house,
say a piece not more than eighteen by twenty-five feet, with which to do
just as I please?"
Father looked thunderstruck, as he answered:
"What can you do with it, Clara?"
"Oh, never mind; may I?"
"Yes, yes," he said in a dreamy way.
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