human
Why, Dorothy, you are quite cold, her mother said.
gpt
I did not know you were curled up in the window seat, and so fast asleep.
human
Why, mother, said Dorothy, rubbing her eyes and giving a great yawn,
gpt
I thought I was flying off to the sunny South with the swallows. How funny! she exclaimed.
human
It was, after all, a dream! I heard Dr. Bell talking about your taking flight with the swallows, and then I thought I got ever so wee and tiny, and then the old mother-swallow carried me off. _Are_ you going to fly off with the swallows, mother, to the sunny South?
gpt
Well, Dorothy Dormouse!
human
Don't call me Dorothy Dormouse, Uncle Crannie.
gpt
Oh, but we call people what they are; and when little girls roll up into a ball, and sleep away their time, they are like nothing so much as--dormice.
human
Mother has been telling you at dinner all about my dream, Uncle Crannie. I know she has, else how do you know?
gpt
Oh, perhaps one of the swallows told me. I say, Dorothy, I have to talk seriously to you for once. I am not joking this time.
human
Before mother comes into the room, I want to tell you that Dr. Bell thinks her cough is a bad cough, and that Coldchester is not the right place for her to live in during the winter months. So poor Uncle Crannie will be left alone all the long winter, and you must go with mother and Ingleby to the sunny South--to Italy; think of that!
gpt
I don't want to go, said Dorothy.
human
I mean--I mean I don't want to leave Puff and Muff and old Nino, and----
gpt
Poor old Uncle Crannie; but, my dear little niece, this is not a question of what you _like_ or what you _want_. It is a question of what is _right_ to do. Perhaps, little Dorothy, neither mother nor I have taught you enough the meaning of the word duty. It means, what you owe to others of service or love. Now, you owe it to your mother to be as merry and happy as a bird; and, after all, many little girls would jump for joy to be off to San Remo.
human
How long will it take to get there, she asked--
gpt
Well, you won't go quite as fast as the swallows, but I daresay we shall get there in less than a week; it depends upon the weather, and upon how your mother bears the journey. You must ask God to-night to bless your dear mother, and to make you a very good, helpful little daughter to her. Will you do this?
human
Yes, Dorothy said--
gpt
Well! the cathedral might run away if I was not here to prevent it; and what would the old Canons do if I deserted them?
human
You are the young Canon, I know, Dorothy said.
gpt
Ingleby says that's what you are called.
human
Ah! said the Canon, rubbing his bald head,
gpt
I don't want any little girls and boys, Dorothy said.
human
I shan't play with them.
gpt
Oh, nonsense! you will learn to play with them--Hoodman Blind, and Tom Tickler's ground; won't that be jolly?