Maria says I ca n't . '' `` That 's too bad , '' said Jordan . `` Old cat , '' he muttered after the retreating and serenely unconscious Mrs. William . Then he shambled in and sat down on the sofa beside Aunty Nan . `` There , there , do n't cry , '' he said , patting her thin little shoulder with his big , sunburned paw . `` You 'll make yourself sick if you go on crying , and we ca n't get along without you at Gull Point Farm . '' Aunty Nan smiled wanly . `` I 'm afraid you 'll soon have to get on without me , Jordan . I 'm not going to be here very long now . No , I 'm not , Jordan , I know it . Something tells me so very plainly . But I would be willing to go -- glad to go , for I 'm very tired , Jordan -- if I could only have heard little Joscelyn sing once more . '' `` Why are you so set on hearing her ? '' asked Jordan . `` She ai n't no kin to you , is she ? '' `` No , but dearer to me -- dearer to me than many of my own . Maria thinks that is silly , but you would n't if you 'd known her , Jordan . Even Maria herself would n't , if she had known her . It is fifteen years since she came here one summer to board . She was a child of thirteen then , and had n't any relations except an old uncle who sent her to school in winter and boarded her out in summer , and did n't care a rap about her .
The child was just starving XXXXX love , Jordan , and she got it here .
at beside except for if in since than to with