I should think so ! `` Its chirp was such a welcome to me ! It seemed so full of promise and encouragement . It seemed to say , you would be kind and gentle with me , and would not expect -LRB- I had a fear of that , John , then -RRB- to find an old head on the shoulders of your foolish little wife . '' John thoughtfully patted one of the shoulders , and then the head , as though he would have said No , no ; he had had no such expectation ; he had been quite content to take them as they were . And really he had reason . They were very comely . `` It spoke the truth , John , when it seemed to say so : for you have ever been , I am sure , the best , the most considerate , the most affectionate of husbands to me . This has been a happy home , John ; and I love the Cricket for its sake ! '' `` Why , so do I , then , '' said the Carrier . `` So do I , Dot . '' `` I love it for the many times I have heard it , and the many thoughts its harmless music has given me . Sometimes , in the twilight , when I have felt a little solitary and down-hearted , John -- before baby was here , to keep me company and make the house gay -- when I have thought how lonely you would be if I should die ; how lonely I should be , if I could know that you had lost me , dear ; its Chirp , Chirp , Chirp upon the hearth has seemed to tell me of another little voice , so sweet , so very dear to me , before whose coming sound my trouble vanished like a dream . And when I used to fear -- I did fear once , John ; I was very young , you know -- that ours might prove to be an ill-assorted marriage , I being such a child , and you more like my guardian than my husband ; and that you might not , however hard you tried , be able to learn to love me , as you hoped and prayed you might ; its Chirp , Chirp , Chirp has cheered me up again , and filled me with new trust and confidence . I was thinking of these things to-night , dear , when I sat expecting you ; and I love the Cricket for their sake ! '' `` And so do I , '' repeated John . `` But , Dot ! I hope and pray that I might learn to love you ? How you talk ! I had learnt that long before I brought you here , to be the Cricket 's little mistress , Dot ! ''
She laid her hand , an instant , on his arm , and looked up at him XXXXX an agitated face , as if she would have told him something .
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