When supper time came, Nan went for the cows, and her mother milked
them into her silver milk-pails, and strained off the milk into her
silver pans. Then they kindled up a fire and cooked some beautiful
milk porridge for the poor people in the yard.
It was a beautiful warm moonlight night, and all the winds were sweet
with roses and pinks; so the people could not suffer out of doors; but
the next morning it rained.
"O, mother!" said Nan, "it is raining, and what will the poor people
do?"
Dame Clementina would never have seen her way out of this difficulty,
had not Dame Golding cried out that her bonnet was getting wet, and
she wanted an umbrella.
"Why, you must go around to their houses, of course, and get their
umbrellas for them," said Dame Clementina; "but first, give ours to
that old man on horseback." She did not know her father, so many years
had passed since she had seen him, and he had altered so.
So Nan carried out their great yellow umbrella to the count, and went
around to the others' houses for their own umbrellas. It was pitiful
enough to see them standing all alone behind the doors. She could not
find three extra ones for the three robbers, and she felt badly about
that.
Somebody suggested, however, that milk-pans turned over their heads
would keep the rain off their slouched hats, at least; so she got
a silver milk-pan for an umbrella for each.
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