My business
relations with Tom had been of an entirely unsatisfactory character,
and the idea of any one's loving the beery scamp presented itself in
a ludicrous light. I got out of the difficulty by saying,
'I mean to love Tom very much, if I can.'
The answer did not appear to be entirely satisfactory to the little
girl, but it soon seemed to pass from her mind.
That was the most delightful afternoon I had ever spent in my life.
We seemed to become old friends in a few minutes, and in an hour or
two she was the closest friend I had on earth. Not all the little
shoeless friends in Raxton, not all the beautiful sea-gulls I loved,
not all the sunshine and wind upon the sands, not all the wild bees
in Graylingham Wilderness, could give the companionship this child
could give. My flesh tingled with delight. (And yet all the while I
was not Hal the conqueror of ragamuffins, but Hal the cripple!)
'Shall we go and get some strawberries?' she said, as we passed to
the back of the house. 'They are quite ripe.'
But my countenance fell at this.
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