He had won her heart on the night of her arrival,
when he had gone to sleep in her lap with a last injunction, that she
"must stay with them always, until God sent for her."
Whatever ideas Miss Lady had cherished of taking charge of the
domestic affairs were promptly discouraged by Myrtella, who had
graciously consented to give the new mistress a month's trial,
threatening that at the first interference she would abandon her to
her fate.
Their first meeting was auspicious. Myrtella on returning from her
afternoon out, had heard a wild commotion in the nursery and hastened
up to investigate. Bertie's introduction was breathless:
"It's the new mother, 'Tella, and Chick's here, and we are playing
bear, and we've broken the bed-springs, and she knows heaps and heaps
of stories, and she knows Chick!"
Myrtella, who had steeled herself for mortal combat, was not prepared
for a foe who sat in the middle of the nursery bed, laughing behind a
tumbled shock of shining brown hair.
"Oh! this is Myrtella, isn't it?" asked the bear, shaking back her
mane and smiling with engaging frankness. "Bertie says you are Chick's
aunt, and Chick's an old friend of mine, isn't it funny?"
"Where'd you ever know Chick?" demanded Myrtella with instant
suspicion.
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