"For my friend here," said Betty, bringing Bobby forward. "I know she will like it."
"I hope so," said Mrs. Staples. "It is finished. Ida sat up most of the night to finish it. Here it is," and she displayed the dark blue blouse for the girls to see.
"How lovely!" ejaculated Bobby eagerly. "I like it even better than I do your orange one, Betty. It's sweet."
"It's twelve dollars, Miss," said the shop woman promptly. "You can pay me and take the blouse. I paid Ida for it."
"Isn't the girl who made it here?" asked Betty anxiously.
"No, she ain't," said Mrs. Staples in her blunt way. "She left an hour ago."
"Oh! Will she come back?"
"I don't expect her. I am sure I cannot be changing help all the time. She left me very abruptly. I did not ask her to come back."
"Why," said Betty, wonderingly, "I thought you were her friend. Isn't she all alone in this country?"
"She is a girl who seems quite able to take care of herself," the grim shopwoman said. "Or she is determined to try. I advised her to write to her aunt——"