"Make us some tea, Maria, as quickly as you can," said Flossie, "and let it be strong, mind. And stay, you had better run to the nearest shop for a cake; I don't suppose there is any in the house."
"Oh, Flossie, please don't," began Juliet.
"Nonsense, Juliet!" Flossie checked her laughingly. "I may surely order cake if I like. I want some, it you do not."
"But I really ought not to stay," faltered Juliet.
"You are not going till you have had some tea, so there," said Flossie imperiously. "Excuse me one moment." And she disappeared.
Juliet heartily wished that she had not entered the house. She foresaw that the maid's getting tea would be a long business; but it seemed impossible to hurry away now without hurting Flossie's feelings.
"What would Hannah say if she could see me!" she thought. "How shocked Salome, who always wears the blue ribbon, would be if she saw that sideboard!"
In fact, Juliet was slightly shocked herself. Decidedly the people who dwelt in this house were of a different set from her own. What a strange, disorderly room it was! She glanced at the pier-glass, and saw the likeness of a ballet-girl taken in such extreme attire, that, though she was alone, Juliet instinctively lowered her eyes with a sense of shame. But ere she had time to observe more there was a sound of voices in the hall, and Flossie entered followed by her brother.
"Juliet, this is Algernon, who has been wishing so much to make your acquaintance. I hardly thought he would be at home, but—"
"Fortune has been kind to me," added her brother, in a low, rich voice, as she hesitated.