"You took it,"
said she.
Cap'n Moseby looked straight back at her, frowning terribly; then, to
her great astonishment, his mouth twitched as if he were going to laugh.
"You think I took your bucket, and you have been waiting here all this
time to get it back, hey?" said he.
"Yes, sir."
"Didn't you feel afraid that I'd set the dog on you, or shoot you out of
the window with my gun?"
"No, sir," said Mirandy.
"Well," said Cap'n Moseby. He paused a minute, his mouth twitched
again. "You have got to come into the house and settle with me if you
want your bucket," he continued, and his voice was still very grim.
Mirandy stepped up on the threshold, and the black dog growled faintly.
"Be still, Lafayette!" said Cap'n Moseby. "I'm going to settle with her.
You lay down."
She followed Cap'n Moseby into his kitchen, and he pushed a little stool
towards her. "Sit down," said he.
And Mirandy sat down. Directly opposite her, on a corner of the settle,
was her berry bucket, and near it stood the gun, propped against the
wall. She eyed it. There was a vague fear in her mind that settlement
was in some way connected with that gun; but she never flinched. She was
resolved to have that bucket.
Cap'n Moseby went to the dresser and got out a large china bowl with
green sprigs on it, and a pewter spoon. He filled the bowl with berries
from Mirandy's bucket, and then poured on some milk out of a blue
pitcher.
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