The Deacon ate his breakfast in silence, looking and acting very
much as usual, for he was generally dumb at meals. When he left
the house, however, and climbed into the wagon, he turned around
and said in his ordinary gruff manner: "Bring the lunch up to the
field yourself to-day, Patience. Tell your sister I hope she's
come to her senses in the course of the night. You've got to
learn, both of you, that my 'say-so' must be law in this house.
You can fuss and you can fume, if it amuses you any, but 't won't
do no good. Don't encourage Waitstill in any whinin' nor
blubberin'. Jest tell her to come in and go to work and I'11
overlook what she done this time. And don't you give me any more
of your eye-snappin' and lip-poutin' and head-in-the-air
imperdence!
You're under age, and if you don't look out, you'll get something
that's good for what ails you! You two girls jest aid an' abet
one another that's what you do, aid an' abet one another, an if
you carry it any further I'll find some way o' separatin' you, do
you hear?"
Patty spoke never a word, nor fluttered an eyelash. She had a
proper spirit, but now her heart was cold with a new fear, and
she felt, with Waitstill, that her father must be obeyed and his
temper kept within bounds, until God provided them a way of
escape.
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