The girl looked round insolently.
"Directly," she said.
"We have waited quite long enough," said Mrs. Morel.
In a moment the girl came back with the tart. Mrs Morel asked coldly for the bill. Paul wanted to sink through the floor. He marvelled at his mother's hardness. He knew that only years of battling had taught her to insist even so little on her rights. She shrank as much as he.
"It's the last time I go there for anything!" she declared, when they were outside the place, thankful to be clear.
"We'll go," she said, "and look at Keep's and Boot's, and one or two places, shall we?"
They had discussions over the pictures, and Mrs. Morel wanted to buy him a little sable brush that he hankered after. But this indulgence he refused. He stood in front of the milliners' shops and drapers' shops almost bored, but content for her to be interested. They wandered on.
"Now, just look at those black grapes!" she said. "They make your mouth water. I've wanted some of those for years, but I s'll have to wait a bit before I get them."
Then she rejoiced in the florists, standing in the doorway sniffing.