Why, he was proud of her! She had done something to make the Putney
cousins proud of her!
When Uncle Henry came to the part where she went on asking for
employment after one and then another refusal, Cousin Ann reached out
her long arms and quickly, almost roughly, gathered Betsy up on her lap,
holding her close as she listened. Betsy had never before sat on Cousin
Ann's lap.
And when Uncle Henry finished--he had not forgotten a single thing Betsy
had told him--and asked, "What do you think of THAT for a little girl
ten years old today?" Cousin Ann opened the flood-gates wide and burst
out, "I think I never heard of a child's doing a smarter, grittier
thing ... AND I DON'T CARE IF SHE DOES HEAR ME SAY SO!"
It was a great, a momentous, an historic moment!
Betsy, enthroned on those strong knees, wondered if any little girl had
ever had such a beautiful birthday.
CHAPTER XI
"UNDERSTOOD AUNT FRANCES"
About a month, after Betsy's birthday, one October day when the leaves
were all red and yellow, two very momentous events occurred, and, in a
manner of speaking, at the very same time. Betsy had noticed that her
kitten Eleanor (she still thought of her as a kitten, although she was
now a big, grown-up cat) spent very little time around the house. She
came into the kitchen two or three times a day, mewing loudly for milk
and food, but after eating very fast she always disappeared at once.
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