There were the homemade
carpet, the centre-table with daguerreotypes standing open and
glaring such light as they had yet to reflect, samplers and colored
prints upon the walls, but there was also a strange man busy with
some papers at the table.
His hat stood beside him on the floor, and he dropped the sorted
papers into it. He was, as Grandma Padgett supposed, one of the
lawyers on the circuit. After looking up, he kept on sorting and
folding his papers.
The woman went out to continue her supper-getting. In a remote part
of the house bacon could be heard hissing over the fire. Robert and
Corinne sat upright on black chairs, but their guardian put Carrie on
a padded lounge.
The little creature was dressed in aunt Corinne's clothing, giving it
a graceful shape in spite of the broad tucks in sleeve, skirt and
pantalet, which kept it from draggling over her hands or on the floor,
She leaned against the wall, gazing around her with half-awakened
interest. The dark circles were still about her eyes, but her pallor
was flushed with a warmer color, Grandma Padgett pushed the damp
curls off her forehead.
"Are you hungry, Sissy?" she inquired.
"No, ma'am," replied Carrie.
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