A Merry Christmas by Louisa May Alcott Read Free Book Online Page A

opinion of her.”
    â€œNo, indeed! It wouldn’t do to pamper a girl’s pride by praising her. I say, ‘Very well, Patty’ when I’m satisfied, and that’s quite enough.”
    â€œAh, but you wouldn’t be satisfied if George only said, ‘Very well, Maria’ when you had done your very best to please him in some way.”
    â€œThat’s a different thing,” began Mrs. Murray, but Miss Jane shook her head, and Ella said, laughing—
    â€œIt’s no use to try to convince Aunty on that point; she has taken a fancy to Pat and won’t see any fault in her. She’s a good enough child, but I can’t get anything out of her; she is so odd and shy.”
    â€œI can! She’s first rate and takes care of me better than anyone else,” said Harry, the lame boy, with sudden warmth. Patty had quite won his selfish little heart by many services.
    â€œShe’ll make Mother a nice helper as she grows up, and I consider it a good speculation. In four years, she’ll be eighteen, and if she goes on doing so well, I won’t begrudge her wages,” added Mr. Murray, who sat nearby with a small son on each knee.
    â€œShe’d be quite pretty if she were straight and plump and jolly. But she is as sober as a deacon, and when her work is done, she sits in a corner watching us with big eyes as shy and mute as a mouse,” said Ned, the big brother, lounging on the sofa.
    â€œA dull, steady-going girl, suited for a servant and no more,” concluded Mrs. Murray, setting down her cup as if the subject were closed.
    â€œYou are quite mistaken, and I’ll prove it!” Aunt Jane announced, jumping up so energetically that the boys laughed and the elders looked annoyed. Pulling out a portfolio, Aunt Jane untied a little bundle of letters, saying impressively—
    â€œNow listen, all of you, and see what has been going on with Patty this year.”
    Then Miss Jane read the little letters one by one, and it was curious to see how the faces of the listeners first grew attentive, then touched, then self-reproachful, and finally filled with interest and respect and something very like affection for little Patty.
    These letters were pathetic, as Aunty read them to listeners who could supply much that the writer generously left unsaid, and the involuntary comments of the hearers proved the truth of Patty’s words.
    â€œDoes she envy me because I’m pretty and gay and have a good time? I never thought how hard it must be for her to see me have all the fun and she all the work. She’s a girl like me, and I might have done more for her than give her my old clothes and let her help me get dressed for parties,” said Ella hastily as Aunt Jane laid aside one letter in which poor Patty told of many “good times and she not in ’em.”
    â€œSakes alive! If I’d known the child wanted me to kiss her now and then as I do the rest, I’d have done it in a minute!” said Mrs. Murray, with sudden softness in her sharp eyes as Aunt Jane read this little bit—
    â€œI am grateful, but, oh! I’m so lonely, and it’s so hard not to have any mother like the other children. If Mrs. Murray would only kiss me good night sometimes, it would do me more good than pretty clothes or nice food.”
    â€œI’ve been thinking I’d let her go to school ever since I heard her showing Bob how to do his lessons. But Mother didn’t think she could spare her,” broke in Mr. Murray apologetically.
    â€œIf Ella would help a little, I guess I could allow it. Anyway, we might try for awhile, since she is so eager to learn,” added his wife, anxious not to seem unjust in Jane’s eyes.
    â€œWell, Joe laughed at her as much as I did when the boys hunched up their shoulders the way she does,” cried conscious-stricken Bob, who had just heard a sad little paragraph about her crooked figure and learned that it