Bess thanked the woman warmly as she took the wraps, for she noted the difference in tone between the mother and the servant. Then she returned to the parlor, where she dropped Fred’s heavy coat and hat on a chair, and went back to her old place by the fire.
“Seems to me you’ve been gone a good while,” said the boy, as Bess sat down on the sofa, and pulled his head, pillow and all, into her lap.
“I just wanted you to find out how charming my society is,” she said playfully, as she twisted his scalp-lock till it stood wildly erect.
“As if I didn’t know anyway,” responded Fred. “But what are you trying to do to me?”
“Only beautifying you a little, sonny,” said Bess, with one eye on the window.
In a few moments she saw the carriage drive up to the door and stop. She took the boy’s hand firmly in her own, and said very quietly, from her position of vantage,—
“Now, Fred, I have a favor to ask of you; it is something I want so very much. Will you do it for me?”
