|
|
her face became white, too, and her lip trembled. When she got to the bedside she cried out:
"You, Tom! Tom, what's the matter with you?"
"Oh, auntie, I'm —"
"What's the matter with you — what is the matter with you, child?" "Oh, auntie, my sore toe is dead!"
4. The old lady sat down into a chair and laughed a little, then cried a little, then did both together. This restored her and she said:
"Tom, what a worry you did give me. Now you shut up that nonsense and get out of this."
The groans stopped and the pain disappeared from the toe. The boy felt a little foolish, and he said:
"Aunt Polly, it seemed dead, and it hurt so that I never noticed my tooth at all."
"Your tooth, indeed! What's the matter with your tooth?" "One of them is loose, and it aches perfectly awful."
"There, there, now, don't begin that groaning again. Open your mouth. Well — your tooth is loose, but you're not going to die about that. Mary, get me a silk thread, and some fire out of the kitchen."
Tom said:
"Oh, please, auntie, don't pull it out. It doesn't hurt any more. Please don't, auntie. I don't want to stay home from school."
"Oh, you don't, don't you? So all this trouble was because you wanted to stay home from school and go fishing? Tom, Tom, I love you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart with your behaviour." By this time the dental instruments were ready. The old lady tied one end of the silk thread to Tom's tooth and tied the other to the bedpost. Then she took the fire and suddenly put it almost into the boy's face. The tooth hung by the bedpost, now...
|
|
