She still wore her bonnet and her triumphant expression.
"Set right in, dears, and make a good breakfast," she said.
"I am not hungry," said Rilla almost pleadingly. "I don't think I can
eat anything. And it is time I was starting for the station. The morning
train will soon be along. Please excuse me and let us go--I'll take a
piece of bread and butter for Jims."
Mrs. Matilda Pitman shook a knitting-needle playfully at Rilla.
"Sit down and take your breakfast," she said. "Mrs. Matilda Pitman
commands you. Everybody obeys Mrs. Matilda Pitman--even Robert and
Amelia. You must obey her too."
Rilla did obey her. She sat down and, such was the influence of Mrs.
Matilda Pitman's mesmeric eye, she ate a tolerable breakfast. The
obedient Amelia never spoke; Mrs. Matilda Pitman did not speak either;
but she knitted furiously and chuckled. When Rilla had finished, Mrs.
Matilda Pitman rolled up her sock.
"Now you can go if you want to," she said, "but you don't have to go.
You can stay here as long as you want to and I'll make Amelia cook your
meals for you."
The independent Miss Blythe, whom a certain clique of Junior Red Cross
girls accused of being domineering and "bossy," was thoroughly cowed.
"Thank you," she said meekly, "but we must really go."
"Well, then," said Mrs. Matilda Pitman, throwing open the door, "your
conveyance is ready for you.
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