"I want three dozen yards of crochet edging like the last you worked for me, Malvina," said Mrs. Reed; "here is the money for the cotton, and perhaps you will be able to walk as far as Laureston Square with the work when you have finished it? If it is fine the walk will do you good—that is, if you are pretty well; but, remember you are not to do the return journey without a rest, you must not hurry away as you did the last time."
"Try to come on a Saturday," said Ann, "then you will be more likely to find me at home. My friend and I are going to school next week, but Saturdays are always whole holidays, you know."
"You are so kind," murmured Malvina, a faint colour creeping into her pale cheeks, "no one else is so kind except Dr. Elizabeth. I am so very glad to get this order for crochet, because I have a good bit of time on my hands now there are so few babies to mind."
"Have you seen Dr. Elizabeth lately?" inquired Mrs. Reed.
"About a fortnight ago, ma'am. My back had been very bad, paining me worse than usual, and mother asked Dr. Elizabeth to give me something to ease the pain, and she did. She came to see me and talked to me, and I think what she said and the heartening way of her did me almost as much good as her medicine. She's that cheerful!"
"You have no fire," observed Mrs. Reed, glancing at the cold hearth.
"No, ma'am. I shan't light it till just before mother and Lottie come home; one doesn't miss a fire much when the sun shines. 'Twas quite pleasant on the doorstep."
After a little further conversation the visitors rose to depart. Malvina followed them to the street door, where they said good-bye to her, and Violet noticed that Ann lingered a moment to slip something into her hand, whispering, as she did so, a few words, one of which was "coal."
"Is Barford anything like what you had pictured it, my dear?" Mrs. Reed inquired of Violet by-and-by, as they turned their backs on the narrow streets of the town for a wider thoroughfare.
"No," Violet replied frankly, "I did not think there were so many poor people living here. That hunchback girl is very poor, isn't she?"