Mistress Trippett and all her family had had their supper. The servants had been fed. Amanda was in the kitchen alone.
She had just washed the pots and pans and hung them over the fireplace to dry. She looked in at her brother and sister on the backstairs. They were asleep. Jemmy's head was against the wall. Meg's head was against his shoulder.
It hurt her to see them there like two puppies that nobody wanted. Why couldn't they come into the kitchen and be warm? But Cook wouldn't have it.
"They'd be under Our feet," she said."They've got their own room. Let them stay in it." Amanda had stood up to her.'They're not be shut away in a room all day. It's bad enough leave them on the stairs. But atleast they are next to the kitchen where they won't be so lonely.' She looked at them sleeping there. Jemmy was getting to be a big boy. He would be a fine, strong man like his father. But Meg was too small too thin.
Amanda woke them. She gave them Their supper beef stew with bread and butter. "Eat," She said,"While I go to mother"
Mother was in a room down the hall. Once a four of them had lived in the room. It had been almost like a home
Now it was a sickroom. The littler ones couldnot not stay there Mistress Tippett had put them into a tiny room in the back of the house, and they slept there at night. Sometimes Amanda slept with them. Sometimes she sat up all nighsat up all night half asleep, half awake by her mother's bed. She carried a lighted candle to the sickroom. Mother lay with her eyes closed. She had not left her bed since the day before Christmas. That was the day she he had fallen on the stairs. But she had been ill long before that.
Amanda sat by the bed and took her mother's hand. She began to tell him about the man who had come from America,"Why do you talk to her?" Cook came and said," It is like talking to the wall. She doesn't even know you're there." And it did seem true
Ellie looked in."Do you Want me to sit for a while?"
Oh would you, Ellie? I want to put the little ones to bed and talk to them a bit."
Amanda went to Jemmy and Meg. They had eaten their supper. She took them to their room. They had a pallet for a bed. Mistress Trippett had given them some covers. One was a piece of red Velvet curtain, faded and old. Jemmy liked to wear it for cloak and play the fine gentleman. Amanda put the candle on the floor. She sat in the middle of the pallet. Jemmy and Meg lay down on either side. She tucked the covers about them to keep out the cold.
"Now " she said, I'll tell U a story."
"About father and the lion." Jemmy asked
"I've told you that," she said." I've told you and told you."
"No, you haven't,"he said."Not for along time."
Amanda began,"Once a man came to London to seek his fortune."
"That's father," said Jemmy
"Yes," she said
"His name was James Freebold," said Jemmy."That's my name, too. That's my real name."
"He met a beautiful maiden with golden hair"
"That mother"
"And they were married and had three children. James Freebold was a Carpenter. He could build houses. Do you remember the house we used to have? He built it for us!"
"I know" said Jemmy" tell the story"
"There is a land called America." said Amanda."Some call it the New World. It's across the sea, and it's a beautiful land with rivers and trees and birds. Indians live there, they were feathers and shoot with bow and arrows. Some men asked father to go there with them to help build houses. They were going to build houses and towns and live in America in a placed called_"
"Virginia," said Meg
"Yes. You like that name, don't you, Meggie? Father said even if we were poor in London, we would be rich in Virginia. We would have our own fields and gardens. You and Jemmy and I had to wait with mother. Virginia was a wild place. It wasn't ready for women and children. Father went ahead, and we moved to Mistress Trippett's, because mother worked there."
"You didn't tell it all."
"Yes, I did"
"No, You left out the lion."
"Oh ,There was a door knocker on the house where we used to live . Before Father went away, he took it off and gave it to us."
"He gave it us all. It was a lion's head. He said it was a lion to guard us while he was gone."
Jemmy said again," He gave it to me." From the undercovers he took out a small lion's head made of brass. A brass bar hung from its mouth . He swung the bar back and forth.
"Don't you want to hear about the sailor man?" asked Amanda. "He was here today. He'd been to Virginia, and he saw Father there. Father has a house, and he wants us to come."
"When?"
"We have to wait."
"Why?"
"For mother to get well. Now go to sleep. You, too, Meg."
She waited until they were asleep. before she slipped out of bed. She picked up the candle and went back to Mother's room.