"Oh, but they are!" the little girl persisted.
Maria was engaged in peeling potatoes. Mousey watched her in silence for a few minutes, wondering at the puzzled expression on the woman's face.
"What are you thinking about, Maria?" she asked at length.
"I was thinking how apt one is to misjudge others, my dear. Now, it never occurred to me that master would send you to Mrs. Downing's school; I thought he'd send you to some place cheaper. It appears that though I've lived with him so many years, I don't understand him yet. Well, all I can say is, I hope you'll learn all you possibly can, and then he won't feel his money is wasted."
"I mean to try to get on," Mousey answered soberly. "I promise you I won't waste Cousin Robert's money if I can help it."
[CHAPTER IX]
MOUSEY GOES TO SCHOOL
THE house where Mrs. Downing lived was in one of the busiest thoroughfares of Haughton. It had been a good position for a doctor's house, but the late master had not lived long enough to work up a flourishing practice, having died just as people had begun to understand that he was a clever medical practitioner.
"If only I was dying free from debt," he had said to his wife a few days before his death; "but there is still a considerable amount owing to Mr. Harding."
"Do not trouble about that," she had answered soothingly. "Mr. Harding shall be paid. He will give me time. He must!"