Beyond keeping it scrupulously clean , Miss Salome never allowed it to be disturbed . And now a somewhat ragged lad from nowhere was to be put into it ! No wonder Clemantiny shook her head when Miss Salome went up to air it . * * * * * Even Clemantiny had to admit that Chester was willing to work . He split wood until she called him to stop . Then he carried in the wood-box full , and piled it so neatly that even the grim handmaiden was pleased . After that , she sent him to the garden to pick the early beans . In the evening he milked three cows and did all the chores , falling into the ways of the place with a deft adaptability that went far to soften Clemantiny 's heart . `` He 's been taught to work somewheres , '' she admitted grudgingly , `` and he 's real polite and respectful . But he looks too cute by half . And his name is n't Benson any more than mine . When I called him ` Chester Benson ' out there in the cow-yard , he stared at me fer half a minute ` sif I 'd called him Nebuchadnezzar . '' When bedtime came , Miss Salome took Chester up to a room whose whiteness and daintiness quite took away the breath of a lad who had been used to sleeping in garrets or hired men 's kitchen chambers all his life . Later on Miss Salome came in to see if he was comfortable , and stood , with her candle in her hand , looking down very kindly at the thin , shrewd little face on the pillow . `` I hope you 'll sleep real well here , Chester , '' she said . `` I had a little boy once who used to sleep here . You -- you look like him . Good night . '' She bent over him and kissed his forehead . Chester had never been kissed by anyone before , so far as he could remember .
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