`` Lay him on the sofa , '' said Miss Salome as soon as she had recovered from the horror into which Clemantiny 's starvation dictum had thrown her . A child starving to death on her doorstep ! `` What do you do for people in a faint , Clemantiny ? '' `` Wet their face -- and hist up their feet -- and loosen their collar , '' said Clemantiny in a succession of jerks , doing each thing as she mentioned it . `` And hold ammonia to their nose . Run for the ammonia , Salome . Look , will you ? Skin and bone ! '' But Miss Salome had gone for the ammonia . There was a look on the boy 's thin , pallid face that tugged painfully at her heart-strings . When Chester came back to consciousness with the pungency of the ammonia reeking through his head , he found himself lying on very soft pillows in a very big white sunny kitchen , where everything was scoured to a brightness that dazzled you . Bending over him was a tall , gaunt woman with a thin , determined face and snapping black eyes , and , standing beside her with a steaming bowl in her hand , was the nice rosy lady who had given him the taffy on the boat ! When he opened his eyes , Miss Salome knew him . `` Why , it 's the little boy I saw on the boat ! '' she exclaimed . `` Well , you 've come to ! '' said Clemantiny , eyeing Chester severely . `` And now perhaps you 'll explain what you mean by fainting away on doorsteps and scaring people out of their senses . '' Chester thought that this must be the mistress of Mount Hope Farm , and hastened to propitiate her . `` I 'm sorry , '' he faltered feebly .
`` I did n't mean to -- I -- '' `` You 're not XXXXX do any talking until you 've had something to eat , '' snapped Clemantiny inconsistently .
as at beside from in into of on that to