Then he
relented sufficiently to say in a tone considerably less severe:
"Go and wash up, and begin your good resolutions by getting down and
seeing to the kitchen fire. It's undoubtedly burnt itself out by this
time. There's probably no dinner for anybody, but we can't mind little
things like that to-night."
He went to Celia's room at last, feeling many cares upon him, a
sensation which an empty, stomach did not tend to relieve. He found his
sister able to give him a very pale-faced but courageous smile, and to
receive his earnest sympathy with a faint:
"Never mind, dear. Don't worry. It might have been worse."
"That seems to be everybody's motto, so I'll accept it. We'll take
courage, and you shall have us all on our knees, since yours are laid up
for repairs."
"You haven't had your dinner, Lanse," murmured Celia. She was suffering
severely, but she could not relax anything of her anxiety for the family
welfare.
"Oh, I forgot there was such a thing as dinner in the world!" cried
Charlotte, and was hurrying to the door when Celia called her back.
"_Please_ wash that smudge off your face," she whispered, and covered
her eyes.
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