"
"O mamma, how good you always are to me!
Indeed, I am in truly earnest; I will learn,
I will be kind, and may I go now and begin?"
"You may, but tell me first where will you
have your hospital?"
"In my room, mamma; it is so snug and sunny,
and I never should forget it there," said Nelly.
"You must not forget it anywhere. I think
that plan will not do. How would you like to
find caterpillars walking in your bed, to hear sick
pussies mewing in the night, to have beetles clinging
to your clothes, or see mice, bugs, and birds
tumbling downstairs whenever the door was
open?" said her mother.
Nelly laughed at that thought a minute, then
clapped her hands, and cried: "Let us have the
old summer-house! My doves only use the upper
part, and it would be so like Frank in the storybook.
Please say yes again, mamma."
Her mother did say yes, and, snatching up her
hat, Nelly ran to find Tony, the gardener's son,
a pleasant lad of twelve, who was Nelly's favorite
playmate.
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