I ca n't do as much as I 'd like to . It was different when your father was alive . '' The noisy group grew silent as they always did when their father was spoken of . He had died the year before , and since his death the little family had had a hard time . Keith , to hide his feelings , began to hector the rest . `` Mary Alice , do hurry up . Here , you twin nuisances , get off to school . If you do n't you 'll be late and then the master will give you a whipping . '' `` He wo n't , '' answered the irrepressible Teddy . `` He never whips us , he does n't . He stands us on the floor sometimes , though , '' he added , remembering the many times his own chubby legs had been seen to better advantage on the school platform . `` That man , '' said Mrs. Grant , alluding to the teacher , `` makes me nervous . He is the most abstracted creature I ever saw in my life . It is a wonder to me he does n't walk straight into the river some day . You 'll meet him meandering along the street , gazing into vacancy , and he 'll never see you nor hear a word you say half the time . '' `` Yesterday , '' said Gordon , chuckling over the remembrance , `` he came in with a big piece of paper he 'd picked up on the entry floor in one hand and his hat in the other -- and he stuffed his hat into the coal-scuttle and hung up the paper on a nail as grave as you please . Never knew the difference till Ned Slocum went and told him . He 's always doing things like that . '' Keith had collected his books and now marched his brothers and sisters off to school . Left alone with the baby , Mrs. Grant betook herself to her work with a heavy heart .
But a second interruption broke the progress XXXXX her dish-washing .
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