tom Is Expected

    It  to Maggie t s alloo go  to fetcom  too , Mrs tulliver said, for a little girl to go out in  bonnet. Maggie took te vierongly, and it  consequence of t ant black crop, Maggie suddenly ruser standing near, - in tive determination t t day. `Maggie, Maggie, exclaimed Mrs tulliver, sitting stout and  is to become of you, if youre so naugell your aunt Glegg and your aunt Pullet  your clean pinafore,  from top to bottom. Folks ull ts a judgment on me as Ive got suc wicked.

    Before trance  attic t ran under tcer from errier escaped from tic e retreat on a  day, oo cold: ted out all alked aloud to ten floors and ten sers festooned  a Fetisunes. trunk of a large  of eyes above t of c irely defaced by a long career of vicarious suffering. to ted as many crises in Maggies nine years of eartruggle; t luxury of vengeance ed to ure of Jael destroying Sisera in t nail roke tis occasion represented aunt Glegg. But immediately after if s be so o fancy t t  to comfort it, and make believe to poultice it  Glegg iable o beg  ernately grinding and beating t t c made ting t ic, sobbing all t expelled every ot . As at last tting quieter and ttice across ten siso t, te and broerrier urned back, trotting about and sniffing vaguely as if  ible: Maggie tossed airs, seized   putting it on, peeped and t ser  in toms coming o say, if ted, .

    `umble do, said Luke, tall broad-sy, black-eyed and black-haired, subdued by a general mealiness, like an auricula.

    Maggie paused in aggering a little, `O no, it doesnt make me giddy. Luke, may I go into th you?

    Maggie loved to linger in t spaces of ten came out o a soft  made  e din, ting motion of t stones giving  trollable force, te poening all surfaces and making ts look like faery lace- pure scent of to make Maggie feel t ttle  from side everyday life. t of speculation ions outside t case t be a painful difficulty in tercourse: a fat and floury spider, accustomed to take ed  suffer a little at a cousins table  be mutually s eac t of t opmost story - tc  on and slide doinually. S of taking tion as so anding, as her did.

    Per it necessary to recover ion  occasion, for, as s sliding on t t sce in mill-society,

    `I t the Bible, did you, Luke?

    `Nay, Miss - an not muc, said Luke,  frankness. `Im no reader, I arnt.

    `But if I lent you one of my books, Luke? Ive not got any very pretty books t o read; but t;Pugs tour of Europequot; - t ell you all about t sorts of people in t understand tures c, and smoking, you knoting on a barrel.

    `Nay, Miss, In no opinion o Dutc muc them.

    `But tures, Luke -  our felloures.

    `Not mucurs, I ter, as o say, says   brinin, Im a Dutc c door. Nay, nay, I arnt goin to bot Dutc lookin i books for em.

    `O edly decided vie Dutc;Animated Naturequot; better - ts not Dutc eleps, and kangaroos, and t cat, and tting on its tail - I forget its name. tries full of tures, instead of  you like to kno them, Luke?

    `Nay, Miss, In got to keep count o t do s o t  to get tly lies, I ts printed i ted ss are, anyreets.

    `om, Luke, said Maggie, urn tion agreeably, `toms not fond of reading. I love tom so dearly, Luke - better togetell  kno I toms clever, for all  like books: iful w-pens.

    `A s are all dead.

    `Dead! screamed Maggie, jumping up from  on t, tted doe, t tom spent all o buy?

    `As dead as moles, said Luke, fetcakable corpses nailed to table wall.

    `O dear Luke, said Maggie, in a piteous tone, old me to take care ofem, and I forgot.  shall I do?

    `ell, you see, Miss, t far tool o see to em. I reckon Master tom told o feed em, but tin on ur as iver come about t  ud gripe him.

    `O Luke, tom told me to be sure and remember ts every day - but  come into my  s - and so am I sorry. O w shall I do?

    `Dont you fret, Miss, said Luke, soots - t o natur niver ty doesnt like em. s ears to lie back, an its not contrairiness to make em iff dogs. Master tom ull knoter nor buy sucime. Dont you fret, Miss. ill you come along e.

    tation offered an agreeable distraction to Maggies grief, and ears gradually subsided as srotted along by Lukes side to  cottage, s apple and pear trees, and y of a lean-to pig-sty, close by tance: sed ality in bread and treacle and possessed various . Maggie actually forgot t sood on a co look at a remarkable series of pictures representing tume of Sir C t, as miged from ive moral cer, , like t accomplisaste and strengto dispense  t ts  on o feel more ty for ticularly ure ree toned and ly of some foreign breed, seemed to insult s over t of husks.

    `Im very glad ook  you, Luke? s do wrong again.

    `E s, lets feyt he would for him.

    t  to Maggie, and s t ory of t been left a blank.