But still he chose to understand the
appeal in his own way; and, hastily wrapping the shawls about the
little figure, he raised it in his arms, saying soothingly,--
"Come, then; come to mammy, little sister. You didn't ought to have
danced and get all tired."
"Good-by, little one," said Giovanni somewhat ruefully. The child
raised her head from Teddy's shoulder, and, smiling through her
tears, said sweetly,--
"Good-by, 'Varny. It wasn't you made me cry, but because"--
"'Cause you was tired, little sister," interposed Teddy hastily; and
Giovanni looked at him craftily.
"I'll come and see you another day, 'Varny; but I must go lie down
now," continued Cherry, anxious to remove any wound her new friend's
feelings might have received. And the organ-grinder smiled until he
showed all his white teeth, as he replied,--"Yes, and again and
again,--as often as you will, picciola."
But Teddy, shaking his head disapprovingly, muttered, as he carried
his little sister away,--
"No: it isn't good for you, sissy, to get so tired and worried."
CHAPTER XV.
THE PINK-SILK DRESS.
BUT, spite of Teddy's disapproval and his mother's doubts, neither
of them could resist the earnestness of Cherry's entreaties, day
after day, to be allowed to "go down and see the music in 'Varny's
room;" and it finally became quite a regular thing for Teddy, upon
his return home, to find his little sister ready shawled and hooded,
and waiting for him to accompany her.
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