The Reign of Terror
finished scrubbing the floor, 'but I'll wait for mine for a little while. Will may come.'
'I'm in no hurry,' replied Slyme, 'I'll go and have a wash; he may be here by then.'
As he spoke, Slyme—who had been sitting by the fire nursing the baby—put the child back into the high chair, giving him one of the sticks of sweets out of the jar to keep him quiet, and went upstairs to his own room. He came down again in about a quarter of an hour, and Ruth proceeded to serve his dinner, for Easton was still absent.
'If I was you I wouldn't wait for Will,' said Slyme. 'He may not come for another hour or two. It's after two o'clock now, and I'm sure you must be hungry.'
'I suppose I may as well have my dinner,' replied Ruth hesitatingly; 'he'll most likely get some bread and cheese at the "Cricketers," same as he did last Saturday.'
'Almost sure to,' responded Slyme.
The baby had had his face washed while Slyme was upstairs. Directly he saw his mother eating he threw away the sugarstick and began to cry, holding out his arms to her. She had to take him on her lap whilst she ate her dinner, and feed him with pieces from her plate.
Slyme talked all the time, principally about the child. He was very fond of children, he said, and always got on well with them, but he had really never known such an intelligent child for his age as Freddie. His fellow-workmen would have been astonished had they been present to hear him talking about the shape of the baby's head. They would have been astonished at the amount of knowledge he appeared to possess of the science of Phrenology. Ruth, at anyrate, thought he was very clever.
After a time the child began to grow fretful and refused to eat; when his mother gave him a fresh piece of sugar-stick out of the jar he threw it peevishly on the floor and began to whimper, rubbing his face against his mother's bosom and pulling at her dress with his hands. When Slyme first came Ruth had made a practice of withdrawing from the room if he happened to be present when she wanted to nurse the child, but lately she had been less sensitive. She was sitting with her back to the window and she partly covered the baby's face with a light shawl that she wore. By the time they finished dinner the child had dozed off to sleep. Slyme
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