"There!" she cried. "What do you think of that?"
"You'll break your neck if you don't mind," I said.
"Break my neck!" she exclaimed. "Not me! That's nothink to what I can show yer. I am glad to see yer back, I am? Aunty sed you'd give us up. 'Not 'im,' sed I; 'he ain't one of the giving-up sort.' You look tired out; ain't yer been well?"
"Quite well, Sophy, but, like you, very busy. Is your aunt at home?"
"Yes," said Sophy, bursting into a fit of laughter; "she's down in the kitching, with a pore man's plaster on 'er side. I got 'er to put on the roller-skates--leastways I put 'em on for 'er--and the minute she stood up in 'em she toppled over and fell agin the dresser. She ain't 'urt much, but she likes to make a lot of a little. I'm all over bruises, I am, but I don't fuss over 'em."
"You shouldn't play tricks on her," I said gravely; "she has been a good friend to you."
"Oh, I don't know about that," said Sophy, with a rebellious toss of her head. "She makes me pay for it, nagging at me morning, noon, and night. But there, I ain't going to say nothink agin 'er. She's got a temper, and so 'ave I."
"She has been greatly worried, Sophy; you must be gentle with her."
"I'll do anythink you tell me; you don't bully a gal, you don't. If you told me to go and jump off the top of the Monument I'd do it--yes, I would, though you mightn't believe me."
"I shall not ask you to do anything so stupid, but you can render me a service, if you have the will and the pluck."