Little good ye've had o' her for the last four years
with yer fool notions 'bout eddication." And he put on his hat and
went out.
"How old is your daughter?" I asked, more to soften the effect of
Marvin's brutal remark than anything else.
"She's seventeen, I guess, but she's big for her age."
The announcement came as a surprise. I had supposed from the way Jim had
always spoken of her that she was a child of twelve. The possibilities
of her camping out became all the more remote.
"And has she been away from you long this time?"
"'Bout four months. I didn't 'spect her to come till Christmas, till she
wrote Jim to come for her. He allus fetches her. They'll be 'long
'bout dark."
I instantly determined to extend the heartiest of welcomes to this
little daughter, not alone because of the mother and Jim, but because
the home-coming of a young girl had always appealed to me as one of the
most satisfying of all family events. My memory instinctively went back
to the return of my own little bird, and of the many marvellous
preparations begun weeks before in honor of the event.
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