I can use no terms less strong than these to show
how much I thank you."
This was just the kind of speech to please the boys, for there had been
no one to praise their work till now. When the meal was done, my wife
brought out some of her best wine, and we drank to the health of our
guest in great state, and with loud cheers. We then made a tour of our
house and grounds, that Jane might see the whole of the place that from
this time she was to make her home. It would take me a long time to
tell what she thought of all she saw, or the neat things she said in
praise of our skill, as we took her from place to place. My wife's
room, in which were kept the pots and pans to dress our food, and the
plates, bowls, and cups, out of which we ate, took her some time to
view; for she had long felt the want of such things as she now saw we
had made for our own use out of what we could find.
The next day we all went to The Nest, and when the rainy season came
round, Jane knew the place quite as well as we did. My wife found in
her a true friend, for she soon took a large share of the work off her
hands, and did it with so much skill, and with so strong a wish to
please us, that we grew to love her as if she had been our own child.
When the time came for us to keep in doors from the rain, the boys
would oft lay by their work, and sit to hear Jane talk of what she had
seen in the East, and Ernest and Fritz would read to her by turns such
books as she might choose.
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