I'll take you back to the poorhouse after dinner, so it may be known what's
become of you. Then, if your mother'll sign an agreement to make no trouble
and not come here, we'll give you a home until we can find a better place for
you."

There was no outburst of gratitude. The repressed, dwarfed nature of the
child was incapable of this, yet there was an unwonted little thrill of hope
in her heart. Possibly it was like the beginning of life in a seed under the
first spring rays of the sun. She merely nodded to Holcroft as if the matter
had been settled as far as it could be, and ignored Alida.

"Why don't you thank Mrs. Holcroft?" he asked.

Then Jane turned and nodded at Alida. Her vocabulary of thanks was
undeveloped.

"She's glad," said Alida. "You'll see. Now that it's settled, we hope you're
hungry, Jane, aren't you?"

"Yes, I be. Can't I help you put things on the table?"

"Yes."

Holcroft looked at the two for a moment, and then shook his head as he went up
to his room. "I thought my wife was nice and pleasant looking before," he
thought, "but she's like a picture beside that child. Well, she has behaved
handsomely. Tom Watterly didn't tell half the truth when he said she was not
of the common run. She's a Christian in deeds, not talk. What's that in
Scripture about 'I was hungry'? Well, well! She makes religion kind of
natural and plain like, whether it's easy or not. Thunder! What a joke it is