Page:Burnett - Two Little Pilgrims' Progress A Story of the City Beautiful.djvu/165

Rh She walked straight to the threshold and sat down on the step beside him. She was a straightforward child, and she was too much moved to stand on ceremony. She sat down quite close to the poor little fellow, and put her hand on his arm.

"Never you mind!" she said. "Never you mind!" and her throat felt so full that for a few seconds she could say nothing more.

Robin stood against the door-post. The effect of this upon him was to make his small jaw square itself.

"Don't mind us at all," he said. "We—we know!"

The little fellow looked at Meg and then up at him. In that look he saw that they did know.

"Mother was going to give that money to me,' he said brokenly. "I was going to the Fair on it. Everybody is going—everybody is talking about it and thinking about it. Nobody's been talking of nothing else for months and months. The streets are full of people on their way, and they all pass me by."

He rubbed his sleeve across his forlorn face and swallowed hard.

"There's pictures in the shops," he went on, "and flags flying, and everything's going that way—and me staying behind."

Two of the large splendid drops, which had