Mrs. Patterson received it with an exclamation of delight and held out a
silver coin in return. But Vaughan put her hands behind her.
"Please'm," she said, "it ain't much. But I wanted to do something for
that poor little orphant."
Mrs. Patterson smiled her thanks, then she pushed and shook and crammed
the sawdust in place, taking a childlike eager interest in seeing the
limp form grow shapely and firm. This done, she consented to take
luncheon and a nap, after which Miss Drayton brought Anne to make her
acquaintance. When Mrs. Patterson sent them out "for a whiff of fresh
air," she thrust into her sister's hand a workbag with frilly white
things to tuck and ruffle. Then she drew out her box of colors. Under
her deft touches, now fast, now slow, the baby face grew life-like and
lovable.
"She's to be a comfort baby for a troubled little mother," said Mrs.
Patterson to herself. "She must be one of the happy-looking babies that
one always smiles at."
And she was. Her mouth curved upward in a smile that brought out a dear
little dimple in the left cheek, and her big blue eyes crinkled at the
corners with a smile climbing upward from the lips. There were two
shell-like little ears and some soft shadowy locks of hair, peeping out
from under a lace-edged cap with strings tied under the chin.
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