"That'll do noo, or I'll come alang yer jaw," and
thus admonished John was at once silent.
Robert soon had his toilet completed, however, even to the old cap on
his head, upon which sat the little oil-lamp, which he handled and
cleaned and wiped with his fingers to keep it bright and shiny, whilst
all the time he kept chattering.
"For ony sake, laddie, hand your tongue," said Geordie at last, as he
drew in his chair to the table to start upon the frugal breakfast of
bread and butter and tea. "Your tongue's never lain since you got up."
Robert, thereupon, sat down in silence at the table, though there were a
hundred different things he wanted to ask about the pit. He could not
understand why everyone felt and looked so sleepy, nor divine the cause
of the irritable look upon each face, which in the dim light of the
paraffin lamp gave a forbidding atmosphere to the home at this time of
the day.
At last, however, the meal was over, and when Geordie had lit his pit
lamp and stuck his pipe in his mouth, all three started off with a curt
"Good morning" to Mrs. Sinclair, who looked after her boys with a smile
which chased away the previous irritability from her face.
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