Stevie never tired of these stories. He knew Mehitabel's
leisure hour, and curling himself up among the cushions on the settee
beside her tea table, he would say, with his most engaging smile:
"Now's just the time for a story, Hitty; don't you think so? And
please begin right away, won't you, 'cause, you know, I'll have to be
going to bed pretty soon."
He knew most of the stories by heart, corrected Miss Higginson if she
left out or added anything in the telling, and always joined in when
she ended the entertainment with her two stock pieces--"Barbara
Freitchie" and "Paul Revere's Ride," which were great favorites with
him. "Oh, how I would like to be a hero!" he said with a sigh, one
afternoon, just after they had finished reciting "Paul Revere's Ride"
in fine style. Presently he added, thoughtfully: "Do you think, Hitty,
that any one could be a hero and not know it? I suppose Washington and
Paul Revere and all those others just knew every time they did anything
brave."
Hitty wore her hair in short gray curls, on each side of her rather
severe-looking face, and now they bobbed up and down as, she nodded her
head emphatically.
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