"What do you mean?"
"That we had nothing to eat," and Katy blushed as though it was a
crime to be hungry and have nothing to eat.
"Not a soul--catch me! that is, I hain't told nobody but mother."
"I am sorry you did, even her. My mother is very proud, if she is
poor; but she wasn't always so poor as she is now, for she is the
daughter of a rich merchant."
"You don't say so."
"Yes, I do, Tommy; so please don't say a word about it to anybody
but your mother, and ask her not to mention it."
"Not a word, Katy, mother won't say a word either."
"And sometime I'll tell you all about it. Thank you for what's in
the basket, Tommy."
Without waiting for anything more, the noble, generous boy leaped
down the stairs and passed out at the front door.
"What have you got there, Katy?" asked Mrs. Redburn, as she
entered the room with the basket in her hand.
"Something Mrs. Howard sent us," she replied, as she opened the
basket, and took out a plate of butter and half a dozen hot
biscuit, which she carried to the bedside for her mother's
inspection.
"What have you done, my child?" exclaimed the poor woman, a flush
gathering on her pale cheek. "Have you told the neighbors that we
have nothing to eat?"
"I couldn't help telling Tommy when I asked for the flounders
yesterday; he told his mother, but no one else knows it.
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