The vegetables, all salted and peppered and buttered, were on the
table--but the turkey was not there. In the great vacant place where the
turkey should have been was a piece of white paper. Ann Mary spied it in
a moment. She caught it up and looked at it. It was a note from her
grandmother:
We have had word that Aunt Betsey has had a bad turn. Lizz wants us
to come. The dinner is all ready for you. If we ain't home
to-night, you can get Loretty to stay with you. Be a good girl.
GRANDMA.
Ann Mary read the note and stood reflecting, her mouth drooping at the
corners. Aunt Betsey was Mrs. Little's sister; Lizz was her daughter who
lived with her and took care of her. They lived in Derby, and Derby was
fourteen miles away. It seemed a long distance to Ann Mary, and she felt
sure that her grandparents could not come home that night. She looked
around the empty room and sighed. After a while she sat down and pulled
off the snowy socks; she thought she might as well eat her dinner,
although she did not feel so hungry as she had expected. Everything was
on the table but the turkey and plum-pudding. Ann Mary supposed these
were in the oven keeping warm; the door was ajar. But, when she looked,
they were not there. She went into the pantry; they were not there
either. It was very strange; there was the dripping-pan in which the
turkey had been baked, on the back of the stove, with some gravy in it;
and there was the empty pudding-dish on the hearth.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52