Stories Oct, 2013 | Page 449

CHAPTER XII A SHORT CHAPTER ABOUT CURDIE CURDIE spent many nights in the mine. His father and he had taken Mrs. Peterson into the secret, for they knew mother could hold her tongue, which was more than could be said of all the miners' wives. But Curdie did not tell her that every night he spent in the mine, part of it went in earning a new red petticoat for her. Mrs. Peterson was such a nice good mother! All mothers are more or less, but Mrs. Peterson was nice and good all _more_ and no _less_. She made a little heaven in that poor cottage on the hillside--for her husband and son to go home to out of the dreary earth in which they worked. I doubt if the princess was very much happier even in the arms of her huge Madhuri Noah C:\Users\MNoah\Documents\The Princess and the Goblin1.docx Page 448 of 634