Grandmother is dreadfully particular," he added, hastily, not wanting to
be impolite even to a tramp. "Seems to me Keith and I have to spend half
our time washing our hands and putting on clean collars."
"Oh, I know a place," cried Keith. "There's that empty cabin down by the
spring-house. Nobody has lived in it since the new servants' cottage was
built. There isn't any furniture in it, but there's a fireplace in one
room, and it would be warmer than the barn."
"That's just the trick!" exclaimed Malcolm. "We can carry a pile of hay
over from the barn for you to sleep on. Aunt Allison will be out on this
next train and I'll ask her. I am sure she will let you, because last
night, when it was so cold, she said she felt sorry for anything that
had to be out in it, even the poor old cedar trees, with the sleet on
their branches. She said that it was King Lear's own weather, and she
could understand how Cordelia felt when she said, _'Mine enemy's dog,
though he had bit me, should have stood that night against my fire!'_ It
is just like auntie to feel that way about it, only she's so good to
everybody she couldn't have any enemies."
Something like a smile moved the tramp's stubby beard. "So she's that
kind, is she? Well, if she could have a soft spot for a dog that had bit
her, and an enemy's dog at that, it stands to reason that she wouldn't
object to some harmless travellers a-sleeping in an empty cabin a couple
of nights.
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