Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/128

112 him back in the old place, and was gone. At the gate she was met by her attendant, Rob.

“What did he say?” inquired that youth, as she reappeared.

“Not very much, but I don’t think he objected.”

The next two days were as busy to Bess as they were long to Fred, who no longer envied  the coal-heaver. A room adjoining Bessie’s was to be given up to the boy, and she took  much care and pleasure in arranging it.

“I feel just like a child with a new doll,” she told her mother. “I want this room to be just as pretty and inviting as if Fred could see it.”

By Tuesday noon, the room was ready, even to the tiny vase on the table, holding one pink  rosebud.

“Boys do care for such things, though they don’t say much about it,” Bess told her mother  and Rob, whom she had invited to inspect the  results of her labors. “That sofa is my especial delight, though,” she added, pointing to the  broad, old-fashioned couch between two western  windows, where Fuzz lay serenely asleep on  one of the cushions. “That can be Fred’s