馬歇爾·桑德斯/Marshall Sauders
The frst winter I was at the Morrises, I had an adventure. It was a week before Christmas, and we were having cold, frosty weather. On that day, I was lying beside the fre, getting tired.
When the door opened, and a young girl called Bessie Drury came in.
She had a cap on and a shawl thrown over her shoulders, and she had just run across the street from her fathers house.“Oh, Mrs. Morris，”she said，“will you let Laura come over and stay with me tonight?Mamma has just gotten a telegram from Bangor, saying that her aunt, Mrs. Cole, is very ill, and she wants to see her, and papa is going to take her there by tonight‘s train, and she is afraid I will be lonely if I don’t have Laura.”
“Very well，”said Mrs. Morris，“I think Laura would like to go.”
“Yes, indeed，”said Miss Laura, smiling at her friend.“I will come over in half an hour.”
“Thank you, so much，”said Miss Bessie. And she hurried away.
After she left, Mr. Morris looked up from his paper.“There will be some one in the house besides those two girls?”
“Oh, yes，”said Mrs. Morris，“Mrs. Drury has her old nurse, who has been with her for twenty years, and there are two maids besides, and Donald, the coachman, who sleeps over the stable. So they are well protected.”
“Very good，”said Mr. Morris. And he went back to his paper.
When Miss laura came down stairs with her little satchel on her arm, I got up and stood beside her.“Dear, old Joe，”she said，“you must not come.”Then she shut the door and went out.
I had to step back then, but I cried and whined, I felt dreadfully. I walked up and down the foor and ran to the window, and howled.
“Mother，”Mr. morris said, turning to his wife，“let the dog go.”
“Very well，”she said, in a puzzled way.“Jack, just run over with him.”
Jack and I were soon at the front door, and he rang the bell and gave me in charge of the maid who opened it. I walked softly into a front room, and there I found my dear Miss Laura.