`` You 'd soon get tired , so you 'd better keep tidy and look on . '' `` I suppose you help your mother a good deal ? '' `` I have n't got any folks . '' `` Why , where do you live , then ? '' `` I 'm going to live here , I hope . Debby wants some one to help round , and I 've come to try for a week . '' `` I hope you will stay , for it is very dull , '' said Rose , who had taken a sudden fancy to this girl , who sung like a bird and worked like a woman . `` Hope I shall ; for I 'm fifteen now , and old enough to earn my own living . You have come to stay a spell , have n't you ? '' asked Phebe , looking up at her guest and wondering how life could be dull to a girl who wore a silk frock , a daintily frilled apron , a pretty locket , and had her hair tied up with a velvet snood . `` Yes , I shall stay till my uncle comes . He is my guardian now , and I do n't know what he will do with me . Have you a guardian ? '' `` My sakes , no ! I was left on the poor-house steps a little mite of a baby , and Miss Rogers took a liking to me , so I 've been there ever since . But she is dead now , and I take care of myself . '' `` How interesting ! It is like Arabella Montgomery in the ` Gypsy 's Child . ' Did you ever read that sweet story ? '' asked Rose , who was fond of tales of found-lings , and had read many .
`` I do n't have any books to read , and all the spare time I get I run off into the woods ; that rests me better than stories , '' answered XXXXX , as she finished one job and began on another .
Debby Montgomery Phebe Rose left locket poor-house sakes snood week