Moreover, that text works both ways sometimes, and the stranger
angel finds himself among angels. My old mother here, if she does
weigh well on toward two hundred, is more like one than anything I
have yet seen, and Elsie, if not an angel, is at least part witch
and part fairy. But you need not fear ghostly entertainment from
mother's larder. As you are a Christian, and not a Pagan, no more
of this reluctance. Indeed, nolens volens, I shall not permit you
to go out into this November storm to-night;" and Elsie, to her
dismay, saw the new-comer led up to the "spare room" with a sort
of hospitable violence.
With flaming cheeks and eyes half full of indignant tears, she now
made onslaught on her mother, who had returned to the kitchen,
where she was making preparations for a supper that might almost
answer for the dinner the next day.
"Mother, mother," she exclaimed, "how could you keep that
disagreeable stranger! He will spoil our Thanksgiving."
"Why, child, what is the matter?" said Mrs. Alford, raising her
eyes in surprise to her daughter's face, that looked like a red
moon through the mist of savory vapors rising from the ample
cooking-stove.
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