'I have been thinking of what you said,' she whispered, with a little break in her voice, 'and I will do what I can. Tell him from me not to work too hard; to—to take care of himself—for my sake.'
Her voice broke down entirely, and she went into the room and shut the door.
He hadn't got to the end of the passage before another door opened, and another girl's head was put out—the head of a girl with red hair. It was Maria Stubbs. She watched him to the end of the passage, and then she sniffed in her unpleasant way and went into Lucy's room.
She went in without knocking, and found Lucy on her knees. She had flung herself on her knees beside her couch, and was wildly imploring Heaven to make her love strong enough and tender enough to keep this man safe who trusted in her.
She looked up when Maria came in, and stumbled up from her knees, pretending she had been looking for something under the couch, as she had been pretending just now she hadn't been crying; but she didn't take in Miss Stubbs.
'Who was that man you were talking to in the passage?' Maria said bluntly. 'It didn't look like Mr. Edgell.'
'No,' Lucy said meekly; 'it wasn't Mr. Edgell. It was Pamela's brother.'
'And he brought you a message from your lover? Of course he is your lover. I like to call things by their right names. I prefer to call a spade a spade.'
'No, he didn't bring me a message,' Lucy said, with some spirit.
She wasn't always going to be trampled upon by Maria.