"God of my life!"he fairly frothed."What did anybody send a dumb child here for?""Dumb child!"I didn't care if Mr.Pryor did wear a Crown of Glory.It wasn't going to do him one particle of good,unless he was found in the way of the Lord."Dumb child!"I was no more dumb than he was,until his bulldogs scared me so my heart got all tangled up with my stomach,my lungs,and my liver.That made me mad,and there was nothing that would help me to loosen up and talk fast,like losing my temper.I wondered what kind of a father he had.If he'd been stood against the wall and made to recite,"Speak gently,"as often as all of us,perhaps he'd have remembered the verse that says:
"Speak gently to the little child;
Its love be sure to gain;
Teach it in accents soft and mild;
It may not long remain."
I should think not,if it had any chance at all to get away!I was so angry by that time I meant to tell him what I thought.
Polite or not polite,I'd take a switching if I had to,but I wasn't going to stand that.
"You haven't got any God in your life,"I reminded him,"and no one sent me here.I came to see the Princess,because I'm in awful trouble and I hoped maybe she could fix up a way to help me.""Ye Gods!"he cried.He would stick to calling on God,whether he believed in Him or not."If it isn't Nimrod!I didn't recognize you in all that bundling."Probably he didn't know it,but Nimrod was from the Bible too!
By bundling,he meant my hood and coat.He helped me from the fence,sent the bulldogs rolling--sure enough he did kick them,and they didn't like it either--took my hand and led me straight into the house,and the Princess was there,and a woman who was her mother no doubt,and he said:"Pamela,here is our little neighbour,and she says she's in trouble,and she thinks you may be of some assistance to her.Of course you will be glad if you can.""Surely!"said the Princess,and she introduced me to her mother,so I bowed the best I knew,and took off my wet mitten,dirty with climbing fences,to shake hands with her.She was so gracious and lovely I forgot what I went after.The Princess brought a cloth and wiped the wet from my shoes and stockings,and asked me if I wouldn't like a cup of hot tea to keep me from taking a chill.
"I've been much wetter than this,"I told her,"and I never have taken a chill,and anyway my throat's too full of trouble to drink.""Why,you poor child!"said the Princess."Tell me quickly!Is your mother ill again?""Not now,but she's going to be as soon as she finds out,"I said,and then I told them.
