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Page 25
"Uncle Steve!" she exclaimed, grabbing that gentleman tightly
round the neck as he leaned over her to adjust her pillows, "you
are the best man in the whole world, and I think you ought to be
President! If you do any more of these lovely things for me I
shall just--just SUFFOCATE with joy. What makes you so good to me,
anyhow?"
"Oh, because you're such a little saint, and never do anything
naughty or mischievous!"
"That's a splendid reason," cried Marjorie, quite appreciating the
joke, "and, truly, Uncle Steve,--don't you tell,--it's a great
secret: but I AM going to try to be more dignified and solemn."
This seemed to strike Uncle Steve as being very funny, for he sat
down on the little wicker settee and laughed heartily.
"Well, you may as well begin now, then; and put on your most
dignified and pompous manner, as you lie there in that hammock,
for I'm going to read to you until tea-time."
"Goody, goody!" cried Marjorie, bobbing up her curly head, and
moving about excitedly. "Please, Uncle, read from that new book
you brought me last night. I'll get it!"
"That's a nice, dignified manner, that is! Your Serene Highness
will please calm yourself, and stay just where you are. _I_ shall
select the book to read from, and _I_ shall do the reading. All
you have to do is to lie still and listen."
So Marjorie obeyed, and, of course, Uncle Steve picked out the
very book she wanted, and read to her delightfully for an hour or
more.
Marjorie's porch, as it came to be called, proved to be a favorite
resort all summer long for the family and for any guests who came
to the house. Marjorie herself almost lived in it for the first
few days after she came downstairs, but at last the doctor
pronounced her ankle entirely well, and said she might "start out
to find some fresh mischief."
So the next morning, directly after breakfast, she announced her
intention of going down to see the boathouse.
"Just think," she exclaimed, "I have never seen it yet, and King
told me to go down there the very first thing."
"I suppose you'll come back half-drowned," said Grandma, "but as
you seem unable to learn anything, except by mistakes, go ahead.
But, Marjorie, do try not to do some absurd thing, and then say
that I haven't forbidden it! I don't forbid you to go in the boat,
if Carter goes with you, but I do forbid you to go alone. Will you
remember that?"
"Yes, Grandma, truly I will," said Marjorie, with such a seraphic
smile that her grandmother kissed her at once.
"Then run along and have a good time; and don't jump off the dock
or anything foolish."
"I won't," cried Marjorie, gayly; and then she went dancing down
the path to the garden. Carter was in the greenhouse potting some
plants.
"Carter," said Marjorie, putting her head in at the door, "are you
very busy?"
"Busy, indeed! I have enough work here with these pesky plants to
keep me steady at it till summer after next. Busy, is it? I'm so
busy that the bees and the ants is idle beside me. Busy? Well, I
AM busy!"
But as the good-natured old man watched Marjorie's face, and saw
the look of disappointment settling upon it, he said: "But what
matters that? If so be, Miss Midget, I can do anything for you,
you've only to command."
"Well, Carter, I thought this morning I'd like to go down to see
the boathouse; and I thought, perhaps,--maybe, if you weren't
busy, you might take me for a little row in the boat. Just a
little row, you know--not very far."
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