" They swept the room and laid the table. Just as they were
putting the potatoes in a dish they heard footsteps.
"There's father," said Tommy; "we must run."
The poor tailor came wearily down the stairs. Morning after morning he
had found an untidy room and an empty table. But now when he entered
the kitchen, he looked around in great surprise. He put his hand out
to the fire to see if it was really warm. He touched the potatoes and
looked at the neat room. Then he shouted, "Mother, mother! boys, boys,
the brownie has come!"
There was great excitement in the small house, but the boys said
nothing. All day the tailor talked about the brownie. "I have often
heard of Little People," he said, "but this is wonderful. To come and
do the work for a pan of cold water! Who would have believed it?"
The boys said nothing until they were both in bed. Then Tommy said:
"The Old Owl was right, and we must stick to the work if we don't
want to be boggarts. But I don't like to have father thinking that we
are still idle. I wish he knew that we are the brownies."
"So do I," said Johnny.
Day after day went by and still the boys rose early, and each day they
found more and more to do.
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