Mrs. Janeway wanted to spend the day with her son 's family over at Oriental , so I was laying out to cook my own dinner . I got everything ready in the pantry last night , ` fore I got word about the pork . I wo n't get back from Navarre before one o'clock , so I reckon I 'll have to put up with a cold bite . '' After her Uncle Richard had driven away , Prissy walked thoughtfully home . She had planned to spend a nice , lazy holiday with the new book her father had given her at Christmas and a box of candy . She did not even mean to cook a dinner , for her father had had to go to town that morning to meet a friend and would be gone the whole day . There was nobody else to cook dinner for . Prissy 's mother had died when Prissy was a baby . She was her father 's housekeeper , and they had jolly times together . But as she walked home , she could not help thinking about Uncle Richard . He would certainly have cold New Year cheer , enough to chill the whole coming year . She felt sorry for him , picturing him returning from Navarre , cold and hungry , to find a fireless house and an uncooked dinner in the pantry . Suddenly an idea popped into Prissy 's head . Dared she ? Oh , she never could ! But he would never know -- there would be plenty of time -- she would ! Prissy hurried home , put her matches away , took a regretful peep at her unopened book , then locked the door and started up the road to Uncle Richard 's house half a mile away . She meant to go and cook Uncle Richard 's dinner for him , get it all beautifully ready , then slip away before he came home . He would never suspect her of it . Prissy would not have him suspect for the world ; she thought he would be more likely to throw a dinner of her cooking out of doors than to eat it .
Eight years XXXXX this , when Prissy had been nine years old , Richard and Irving Baker had quarrelled over the division of a piece of property .
After about as at before for from in into with