So being, I have the greatest right to look after her, and I cannot
yield it even to"--
"Her father," said Margaret, finishing his interrupted sentence.
"It seems strange that a girl like her should be thrown on the bare
world to struggle through so bad an illness. No one seems to know
where John Barton is, else I thought of getting Morris to write him
a letter telling him about Mary. I wish he was home, that I do!"
Jem could not echo this wish.
"Mary's not bad off for friends where she is," said he. "I call
them friends, though a week ago we none of us knew there were such
folks in the world. But being anxious and sorrowful about the same
thing makes people friends quicker than anything, I think. She's
like a mother to Mary in her ways; and he bears a good character, as
far as I could learn just in that hurry. We're drawing near home,
and I've not said my say, Margaret. I want you to look after mother
a bit. She'll not like my going, and I've got to break it to her
yet. If she takes it very badly, I'll come back to-morrow night;
but if she's not against it very much, I mean to stay till it's
settled about Mary, one way or the other.
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