No sooner were the little fat
legs pushed down than up they came again, for Totty's eyes were too busy
in staring at the large dishes to see where the plum pudding was for
her to retain any consciousness of her legs. Hetty got quite out of
patience, and at last, with a frown and pout, and gathering tears, she
said, "Oh dear, Aunt, I wish you'd speak to Totty; she keeps putting her
legs up so, and messing my frock."
"What's the matter wi' the child? She can niver please you," said the
mother. "Let her come by the side o' me, then. I can put up wi' her."
Adam was looking at Hetty, and saw the frown, and pout, and the dark
eyes seeming to grow larger with pettish half-gathered tears. Quiet Mary
Burge, who sat near enough to see that Hetty was cross and that Adam's
eyes were fixed on her, thought that so sensible a man as Adam must be
reflecting on the small value of beauty in a woman whose temper was bad.
Mary was a good girl, not given to indulge in evil feelings, but she
said to herself, that, since Hetty had a bad temper, it was better Adam
should know it. And it was quite true that if Hetty had been plain, she
would have looked very ugly and unamiable at that moment, and no one's
moral judgment upon her would have been in the least beguiled.
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