"
"Sha'n't tell," said Mehitable, in a sulky voice.
"Will you promise--'Honest and true. Black and blue. Lay me down and cut
me in two'--that you won't tell?"
Mehitable nodded.
"Say it over then."
Mehitable repeated the formula. It sounded like inaudible gibberish.
"I shall tell her myself when I get home," said Hannah Maria. "I shall
be back pretty soon, anyway, but I don't want her sending father after
me. You're sure you're not goin' to tell, now, Mehitable Lamb? Say it
over again."
Mehitable said it again.
"Well, you'll be an awful telltale if you do tell after that!" said
Hannah Maria.
She went on up one road towards her uncle Timothy Dunn's, and Mehitable
trundled her doll-carriage homeward down the other. She went straight on
past Hannah Maria's house. Hannah Maria's mother, Mrs. Green, had come
home. She saw the white horse and buggy out in the south yard. She heard
Mrs. Green's voice calling, "Hannah Maria, Hannah Maria!" and she
scudded by like a rabbit.
Mehitable's own house was up the hill, not far beyond. She lived there
with her mother and grandmother and her two aunts; her father was dead.
The smoke was coming out of the kitchen chimney; her aunt Susy was
getting supper. Aunt Susy was the younger and prettier of the aunts.
Mehitable thought her perfection. She came to the kitchen door when
Mehitable entered the yard, and stood there smiling at her.
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