A lady and her husband

by Amber Reeves Blanco White

"Don't you stop, Florrie," she said. "You tell the ladies, me girl. Jus' you tell them what 'e done!"

Florrie looked slowly at her mother, then turning away she told them.

"Then one day 'e came and said I'd broken 'is 'eart, and 'e were goin' away and I shouldn't never see 'im again. An' 'e'd brought me a partin' gift, an' when I'd taken it 'e'd go, only not before. An' I was that bucked at gettin' rid of 'im I was fool enough to take it. It was a dimon' bracelet in a real leather case. An' 'e said good-bye, an' would I think of 'im sometimes, an' I said not if I could 'elp it, an' we parted. An' mother 'avin' been so bad I took it straight roun' to Moses's that night. I suppose 'e must 'a' followed me, for 'e waits a day or two, till I'd spent the money, an' there 'e was at the corner wanting to know if I were ready to do my part of the bargain. I told 'im there weren't no bargain, told 'im I wouldn't go with 'im for a hundred dimon' bracelets, and then 'e said—" she stopped again.

"You go on—you say it, darlin'!" Mrs. Wilson's excitement was growing.

"'E said I'd stole it, an' if I didn't give it back 'e'd 'ave me put away!"

After that nobody spoke for a moment. Mary was trembling, Miss Percival was white, Mrs. Wilson looked from one to the other of them, nodding her head with an air almost of triumph.

Then Mary remembered that there was more to hear. "My dear," she said quickly, "my poor little girl, you mustn't trouble about that; we'll get the bracelet back, and if you like we'll call it a loan and you can return it when you have the money," Mary did not want to crush Florrie with a sense of obligation—"but how was it that you lost your place? Did the man tell his story to the manager?"

Florrie stood quite still and did not answer. Mary waited for a minute and then glanced across at Mrs. Wilson. The invalid had assumed a piteous expression; she looked back mysteriously and shook her head, but when, after a considerable silence, Florrie still did not speak, she could bear the silence no longer, and she turned upon her daughter. "Now then," she admonished her, "you tell them! Don't you go shirkin' the 'ard part! If the ladies is to 'elp us they must know the 'ole truth!" She looked at Mary for approval.

Florrie, whose attention had been caught by her mother's tone, saw the glance. "Well, then, I won't tell them!" she cried. "I'm not going to! Tell them yourself as you seem to enjoy it!" She flung herself into Miss Percival's chair, her face turned away from them over its back, and Mary could see that her shoulders were shaking.

Mrs. Wilson tried to look shocked. "Well, if she's got one of 'er wicked tempers, ma'm, an' won't tell you, then I must!" she said, "though far from enjoyin' it! Well, then, 'e came after 'er, worryin' every day, till she felt desprit, as she must get the money, so—that I should 'ave to say it—she tried to see if some ole keys we 'ad would unlock the box where Mrs. Black keeps the silver. An' not only they wouldn', but Mrs. Black catches 'er at it, so of course she couldn't see 'er way to keepin' 'er, so now she's lost 'er place, and no character, any foot on the stair may be the police, and we've 'ad nothin' to eat but a cup o' tea since yesterday dinner time and the rent owing, and the Lord 'ave mercy on us, for I don't know what we're to do!"