Page:Cheery and the chum (IA cheerychum00yate).pdf/16

 he was at my house last week, and when he found I'd get here first and see everything before he did, he felt so sorry, that I promised I wouldn't step one foot off the veranda until he came, so we could go with each other."

Aunt Beth came half-way down the steps and sat down beside the little girl. "Why did you promise him that?" she asked, taking Cheery's little pink fingers and pinching them gently, one at a time. "Didn't you know that it would be hard?"

Cheery nodded her head. "Yes," she said, "but it is just hard on the outside, you know."

"On the outside? What do you mean?" asked Aunt Beth.

"Why, you see—" Cheery couldn't find quite the right words, "—you see—when I look at the hammock over there, I want to go and climb right into it, but that's just on the outside—and then, when I think of The Chum, and of how glad he'll be that I waited, and what fun it will be to go with