She seated herself opposite Claire, drawing her chair quite close.

“Pity you an’ him is so on the outs.  I’m not speakin’ o’ him, s’much, but anybody with half an eye can see you got a reg’lar hate on’m. Any one can see that!”

A moment of silence, and then Claire flung herself, sobbing and quivering, across Martha’s lap, ready to receive her.

“O, Martha!” she choked.

CHAPTER XVII

“Well now, what do you think o’ that!  Ain’t it the end o’ the law?  The high-handed way he has o’ doin’ things!  Think o’ the likes o’ me closin’ up my ‘town-house’ an’ takin’ my fam’ly (includin’ Flicker an’ Nixcomeraus) ’to the country-place’—­for all the world like I was a lady, born an’ bred.—­Sammy, you sit still in your seat, an’ eat the candy Mr. Blennerhasset brought you, an’ quit your rubberin’, or the train’ll start suddently, an’ give you a twist in your neck you won’t get over in a hurry....  Ma, you comfortable?....  Cora an’ Francie, see you behave like little ladies, or I’ll attend to you later.  See how quiet Sabina is—­Say, Sabina, what you doin’?  Now, what do you think o’ that!  If that child ain’t droppin’ off to sleep, suckin’ the red plush o’ the seat!  For all the world like she didn’t have a wink o’ rest last night, or a bite or a sup this mornin’—­an’ she slep’ the clock ’round, an’ et a breakfast fit for a trooper.  Say, Sabina—­here, wake up!  An’ take your tongue off’n that beautiful cotton-backed plush, d’you hear?  In the first place, the gen’l’men that owns this railroad don’t want their upholsterry et by little girls, an’, besides, it’s makin’ your mouth all red—­an’, second-place, the cars isn’t the time to sleep—­leastwise, not so early in the mornin’.  Miss Claire, child, don’t look so scared!  You ain’t committin’ no crime goin’ along with us, an’ he’ll never suspicion anyhow.  He’s prob’ly on the boundin’ biller by this time, an’ Mr. Blennerhasset he don’t know you from a hole in the ground.  Besides, whose business is it, anyway?  You ain’t goin’ as his guest, as I told you before.  You’re my boarder, same’s you’ve always been, an’ it’s nobody’s concern if you board down here or up there...

“Say, ain’t these flowers just grand?  The box looks kinder like a young coffin, but never mind that...

“A body would think all that fruit an’ stuff was enough of a send-off, but Lor—­Mr.  Ronald, he don’t do things by halves, does he?  It wouldn’t seem so surprisin’ now, if he’d ‘a’ knew you was comin’ along an’ all this (Mr. Blennerhasset himself helpin’ look after us, an’ see us off—­as if I was a little tender flower that didn’t know a railroad ticket from a trunk-check), I say, it wouldn’t seem so surprisin’ if he’d ‘a’ knew you was comin’ along.  I’d think it was on your account.  What they calls delicate attentions.  The sorter thing a gen’l’man does when he’s got his eye on a young lady for his wife, an’ is sorter breakin’ it to her gently—­kinder beckonin’ with a barn-door, as the sayin’ is.