"
"Lord help me!" ejaculated old Hagar, who, much as she loved Maggie,
was beginning to dread her daily visits.
"Why do you want help?" asked Maggie laughingly. "Are you tired of me,
Hagar? Don't you like me any more?"
"Like you, Maggie Miller!--like you!" repeated old Hagar, and in the
tones of her voice there was a world of tenderness and love. "There
is nothing on earth I love as I do you. But you worry me to death
sometimes."
"Oh, yes, I know," answered Maggie; "but I'm not going to tease you
for a while. I shall have so much else to do when grandma is gone that
I shall forget it. I wish she wasn't so proud," she continued, after a
moment. "I wish she'd let Theo and me see a little more of the world
than she does. I wonder how she ever expects us to get married, or be
anybody, if she keeps us here in the woods like young savages. Why, as
true as you live, Hagar, I have never been anywhere in my life, except
to church Sundays, once to Douglas' store in Worcester, once to Patty
Thompson's funeral, and once to a Methodist camp-meeting; and I never
spoke to more than a dozen men besides the minister and the school
boys! It's too bad!" and Maggie pouted quite becomingly at the
injustice done her by her grandmother in keeping her thus secluded.
"Theo don't care," she said. "She is prouder than I am, and does not
wish to know the Yankees, as grandma calls the folks in this country;
but I'm glad I am a Yankee.
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