"I like that, Kitty, and think the better of you for't. Let bygones
be bygones. I gen'lly got as good as I give, and I guess I deserved
some on't. I wish you wal, my girl, I heartily wish you wal, and
hope you won't forgit that the old house ain't never shet aginst
you."
Christie astonished him with a cordial kiss; then bestowing another
warm hug on Aunt Niobe, as she called the old lady in a tearful
joke, she ran into the carriage, taking with her all the sunshine of
the place.
Christie found Mrs. Flint a dreary woman, with "boarders" written
all over her sour face and faded figure. Butcher's bills and house
rent seemed to fill her eyes with sleepless anxiety; thriftless
cooks and saucy housemaids to sharpen the tones of her shrill voice;
and an incapable husband to burden her shoulders like a modern "Old
man of the sea."
A little room far up in the tall house was at the girl's disposal
for a reasonable sum, and she took possession, feeling very rich
with the hundred dollars Uncle Enos gave her, and delightfully
independent, with no milk-pans to scald; no heavy lover to elude; no
humdrum district school to imprison her day after day.
For a week she enjoyed her liberty heartily, then set about finding
something to do.
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