` How are your nerves , Fletcher ? ' asked Mr Laurie as they stood together during the breathless minute before the last bell rings . ` About as calm as yours , Beaumont , ' answered Mrs Jo , gesticulating wildly to Mrs Meg to set her cap straight . ` Bear up , partner ! I 'll stand by you whatever comes ! ' ' I feel that it ought to go ; for , though it 's a mere trifle , a good deal of honest work and truth have gone into it . Does n't Meg look the picture of a dear old country woman ? ' She certainly did , as she sat in the farmhouse kitchen by a cheery fire , rocking a cradle and darning stockings , as if she had done nothing else all her life . Grey hair , skilfully drawn lines on the forehead , and a plain gown , with cap , little shawl , and check apron , changed her into a comfortable , motherly creature who found favour the moment the curtain went up and discovered her rocking , darning , and crooning an old song . In a short soliloquy about Sam , her boy , who wanted to enlist ; Dolly , her discontented little daughter , who longed for city ease and pleasures ; and poor ` Elizy ' , who had married badly , and came home to die , bequeathing her baby to her mother , lest its bad father should claim it , the little story was very simply opened , and made effective by the real boiling of the kettle on the crane , the ticking of a tall clock , and the appearance of a pair of blue worsted shoes which waved fitfully in the air to the soft babble of a baby 's voice . Those shapeless little shoes won the first applause ; and Mr Laurie , forgetting elegance in satisfaction , whispered to his coadjutor : ' I thought the baby would fetch them ! ' ` If the dear thing wo n't squall in the wrong place , we are saved . But it is risky . Be ready to catch it if all Meg 's cuddlings prove in vain , ' answered Mrs Jo , adding , with a clutch at Mr Laurie 's arm as a haggard face appeared at the window : ` Here 's Demi ! I hope no one will recognize him when he comes on as the son . I 'll never forgive you for not doing the villain yourself . ' ` Ca n't run the thing and act too . He 's capitally made up , and likes a bit of melodrama . ' ` This scene ought to have come later ; but I wanted to show that the mother was the heroine as soon as possible . I 'm tired of love-sick girls and runaway wives .
We 'll XXXXX that there 's romance in old women also .
Does adding asked forgive gesticulating prove rocking sat saved stood