human
Yes, I did. Isn't it just like a fairy story? You see if you do a kind thing a kind thing's done to you. I've told all of you that and you wouldn't believe me but now you've got to. Anna Paulovitch lives in this big friendly house I was telling you about. It isn't splendid and beautiful like this but it is friendly and there are a lot of children and pets. The law lets them live there. I didn't suppose there was a house like that in all Waloo! Anna's mother goes out washing and her father's dead like mine. She has seven brothers and sisters that Mrs. Paulovitch has to find clothes and bread for. It's a good deal for one woman she said and I think it is, too. And right across the hall from the Paulovitch's, just like across the hall from Mrs. Bracken's to Mrs. Schuneman's, lives John Kalich. He's a messenger boy and his sister Becky's been in bed for seven years. She's nine now and Johnny's crazy about her. He came here with a message and when he saw Jenny Lind all by herself in the hall he thought how much Becky would like her. And Becky did like her. She hadn't ever seen a canary bird before. I told her she could borrow Jenny Lind for a while longer though I did want to bring her home tonight. But I thought, Aunt Kate, that since George Washington's supporting himself and I haven't spent the money I earned washing Mrs. Bracken's dishes and playing with the squirrels with Grandma Johnson I'd buy a bird for Becky for her very own. I'm going to let her keep Jenny Lind until then. It seems as if I was always lending Jenny Lind, doesn't it? Aunt Kate, she stopped suddenly and looked appealingly at her aunt.
gpt
I'm so hungry! Can't I have some supper?
human
Haven't you had any?
gpt
I couldn't eat any at Mrs. Paulovitch's because she only had enough to go around once and anyway I don't think I care for Russian cooking, bread and lard. I'm an American, you know, and that's why I like American cooking best.
human
Bread an' lard! My soul an' body!
gpt
Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?