"How do you like the other girls? Are they stuck-up?"
"I have only spoken to a few of them, so I can't tell yet. You need not have come to fetch me, John. I remember the way quite well."
Perhaps Mousey's tone sounded somewhat ungracious, for her companion glanced at her curiously, and seemed puzzled.
"Mr. Harding made me come," he said in an aggrieved tone. "I should have considered you were old enough to look after yourself."
"So I am," she replied promptly; then she thought how ungrateful he must think her, and added, "But it was very kind of you to come."
"Oh, as to that, I'd as soon be here as in the shop. I say, when do you want your Bible again?"
"Not until you've quite finished with it."
"Then I can keep it a little longer?"
"Yes, if you like."
"I haven't much time for reading during the day," he proceeded; "Mr. Harding's always at me about one thing or another, and I don't care to read the Bible in the parlour of an evening."