"Don't you find the girls friendly?" he questioned.
"Oh, yes!" she answered quickly. "Oh, yes, indeed! There is one girl I like very much—Nellie Thomas."
"Is she a daughter of Thomas the draper?"
"Yes, Cousin Robert. She is going to ask me to her house to tea one Saturday."
"Is she, indeed. And do you propose asking her here in return?"
Mousey glanced round the parlour, and looked doubtful. Somehow she could not picture her bright-faced, well-dressed school-fellow in that shabby room. Mr. Harding smiled in what Mousey thought was a very disagreeable manner.
"I suppose you think your friend's father must be a very rich man, eh?" he questioned. "You think because he has a fine shop, and a private house for his family, that he is wealthy, eh? Don't judge by appearances. I am richer by far than he is—oh, yes."
There was a ring of triumph in the old man's tone, and his eyes sparkled brightly. Mousey was greatly impressed by his words, though not in the way he imagined.
"It must be nice to be rich," she said softly. "I know what I would do if I had plenty of money," she continued; "I would put a beautiful, white marble tombstone over mother and father's grave; and I would send a lot of lovely presents to Aunt Eliza, and Uncle Dick, and the children."
"Oh, indeed! And would you give me anything?" Mr. Harding asked in his most caustic tones.