Nothing
would make them tidy," and Rusha pointed to a hopeless stain and to
the frayed edges past mending.
"I hate tidiness. Only Puritan rebels are tidy!"
"We are not Puritans!" cried Rusha.
Emlyn laughed. "Hark at your names," she said. "And what's that
great rebel rogue of a brother of yours?"
"Oh! he is Jeph! He ran away to the wars! But Stead isn't a
Puritan," cried Rusha, growing more earnest. "He always goes to
church--real church down in Bristol. And poor father was
churchmartin, and knew all the parson's secrets."
"Hush, Rusha," said Patience, not much liking this disclosure,
however Jerusha might have come by the knowledge, "you and Emlyn
don't want to quarrel when she is just going to say good-bye!"
This touched the little girls. Rusha had been much enlivened by the
little fairy who had seen so much of the world, and had much more
playfulness than the hard-worked little woodland maid; and Emlyn, who
in spite of her airs, knew that she had been kindly treated, was
drawn towards a companion of her own age, was very fond of little
Ben, and still more so of Steadfast.
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