"Now you are fencing. I mean, did you ever have the same things to eat that we had just now?"
Amarilly hesitated, longing to mystify him further, but it came over her in a rush how very kind he had been to her.
"Yes, I hev. I'll tell you all about it."
"Good! An after-dinner story! Beat her up, Amarilly!"
So she told him of her patroness and the luncheon she had eaten at her house.
"And I watched how she et and done, and she tole me the names of the things we hed. I writ them out, and that was my lesson that night with the Boarder."
Then, of course, Derry must know all about the Boarder and the brothers. After she had finished her faithful descriptions, it was time to return to the studio. Her quick, keen eyes had noted the size of the bill Derry had put on the salver, and the small amount of change he had received. She walked home beside him in troubled silence.
"What's the matter, Amarilly?" he asked as she was buttoning on her apron preparatory to resuming work. "Didn't the luncheon agree with you, or are you mad at me? And for why, pray?"
Amarilly's thin little face flushed and a tear came into each thoughtful eye.
"I hedn't orter to hev tole you ter git all them things. I was atryin' ter be smart and show off, but, honest, I didn't know they was agoin' ter cost so much. I ain't agoin' ter take no money fer the cleanin', and that'll help some."