The Railway Children - E. Nesbit

gave a start, put her hand in her pocket, and all her body grew stiff with horror.
“Oh!” she whispered to the others, “whatever shall we do? I forgot to put the
labels on any of the things! He won't know what's from who. He'll think it's all
US, and that we're trying to be grand or charitable or something horrid.”
“Hush!” said Peter.
And then they heard the voice of Mr. Perks, loud and rather angry.
“I don't care,” he said; “I won't stand it, and so I tell you straight.”
“But,” said Mrs. Perks, “it's them children you make such a fuss about—the
children from the Three Chimneys.”
“I don't care,” said Perks, firmly, “not if it was a angel from Heaven. We've
got on all right all these years and no favours asked. I'm not going to begin these
sort of charity goings-on at my time of life, so don't you think it, Nell.”
“Oh, hush!” said poor Mrs Perks; “Bert, shut your silly tongue, for goodness'
sake. The all three of 'ems in the wash-house a-listening to every word you
speaks.”
“Then I'll give them something to listen to,” said the angry Perks; “I've spoke
my mind to them afore now, and I'll do it again,” he added, and he took two
strides to the wash-house door, and flung it wide open—as wide, that is, as it
would go, with the tightly packed children behind it.
“Come out,” said Perks, “come out and tell me what you mean by it. 'Ave I
ever complained to you of being short, as you comes this charity lay over me?”
“OH!” said Phyllis, “I thought you'd be so pleased; I'll never try to be kind to
anyone else as long as I live. No, I won't, not never.”
She burst into tears.
“We didn't mean any harm,” said Peter.
“It ain't what you means so much as what you does,” said Perks.
“Oh, DON'T!” cried Bobbie, trying hard to be braver than Phyllis, and to find
more words than Peter had done for explaining in. “We thought you'd love it.
We always have things on our birthdays.”
“Oh, yes,” said Perks, “your own relations; that's different.”
“Oh, no,” Bobbie answered. “NOT our own relations. All the servants always
gave us things at home, and us to them when it was their birthdays. And when it
was mine, and Mother gave me the brooch like a buttercup, Mrs. Viney gave me
two lovely glass pots, and nobody thought she was coming the charity lay over
us.”