“Can’t I take her home, then?” asked granny, angrily.
“You had better go away quietly,” said the policeman, “or I must take you to the station-house.”
Mrs. Walsh, compelled to abandon her designs upon Tom, moved off slowly. She had got but a few steps, when Tom called out to her, “Give my love to your five small children, granny!”
The old woman, by way of reply, turned and shook her fist menacingly at Tom, but the latter only laughed and went on her way.
“Aint she mad, though!” soliloquized Tom. “She’d lick me awful if she only got a chance. I’m glad I don’t live with her. Now I get square meals every day. I’d like to see granny’s five small children;” and Tom laughed heartily at what she thought a smart imposture. That Tom should be very conscientious on the subject of truth could hardly be expected. A street education, and such guardianship as she had received from granny, were not likely to make her a model; but Tom is more favorably situated now, and we may hope for gradual improvement.
CHAPTER XV GRANNY READS SOMETHING TO HER ADVANTAGE.
After her unsuccessful attempt to gain possession of Tom, granny returned home, not only angry but despondent. She had been deeply incensed at Tom’s triumph over her. Besides, she was tired of earning her own living, if begging from door to door can properly be called earning one’s living. At any rate it required exertion, and to this Mrs. Walsh was naturally indisposed. She sighed as she thought of the years when she could stay quietly at home, and send out Tom to beg or earn money for her. She would like, since Tom was not likely to return, to adopt some boy or girl of suitable age, upon whom she could throw the burden of the common support. But such were not easy to be met with, and Mrs. Walsh was dimly aware that no sane child would voluntarily select her as a guardian.
So granny, in rather low spirits, sought her elevated room, and threw herself upon the bed to sleep off her fatigue.
On awaking, granny seated herself at the window, and picked up mechanically the advertising sheet of the “Herald,” in which a loaf of bread had been wrapped that had been given to her the day previous. It was seldom that Mrs. Walsh indulged in reading, not possessing very marked literary tastes; but to-day she was seized with an idle impulse, which she obeyed, without anticipating that she would see anything that concerned her.