"Base slanders; I 'm as steady as a clock, an ornament to my class,
and a model young man, ain't I, mother?" And Tom patted her thin
cheek with a caressing hand, sure of one firm friend in her; for
when he ceased to be a harum-scarum boy, Mrs. Shaw began to
take great pride in her son, and he, missing grandma, tried to fill
her place with his feeble mother.
"Yes, dear, you are all I could ask," and Mrs. Shaw looked up at
him with such affection and confidence in her eyes, that Polly gave
Tom the first approving look she had vouchsafed him since she
came.
Why Tom should look troubled and turn grave all at once, she
could n't understand, but she liked to see him stroke his mother's
cheek so softly, as he stood with his head resting on the high back
of her chair, for Polly fancied that he felt a man's pity for her
weakness, and was learning a son's patient love for a mother who
had had much to bear with him.
"I 'm so glad you are going to be here all winter, for we are to be
very gay, and I shall enjoy taking you round with me," began
Fanny, forgetting Polly's plan for a moment.
Pages:
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236