But at all times they found her interesting . So they submitted quite meekly to her bossing , and by the end of a fortnight had come to feel that she must always have been with them . `` It 's the queerest thing that Mrs. Wiley hai n't been after me , '' said Mary . `` I ca n't understand it . '' `` Maybe she is n't going to bother about you at all , '' said Una . `` Then you can just go on staying here . '' `` This house ai n't hardly big enough for me and old Martha , '' said Mary darkly . `` It 's a very fine thing to have enough to eat -- I 've often wondered what it would be like -- but I 'm p ` ticler about my cooking . And Mrs. Wiley 'll be here yet . SHE 'S got a rod in pickle for me all right . I do n't think about it so much in daytime but say , girls , up there in that garret at night I git to thinking and thinking of it , till I just almost wish she 'd come and have it over with . I dunno 's one real good whipping would be much worse 'n all the dozen I 've lived through in my mind ever since I run away . Were any of you ever licked ? '' `` No , of course not , '' said Faith indignantly . `` Father would never do such a thing . '' `` You do n't know you 're alive , '' said Mary with a sigh half of envy , half of superiority . `` You do n't know what I 've come through . And I s ` pose the Blythes were never licked either ? '' `` No-o-o , I guess not . But I THINK they were sometimes spanked when they were small . ''
`` A spanking does n't amount to anything , '' said XXXXX contemptuously .
Father Martha Mary Wiley bossing daytime fortnight hai right ticler