"WELL, to be sure!" And in well-feigned astonishment, Mrs. Stanley threw down the cards and looked at Lizzie, who sat close by, watching the performance with great interest.
"What is it—what is the matter?" she asked.
"What is the matter?" repeated the woman. "Why, you've got such a lucky hand, that I ought to have half-a-crown for telling it; and if you can't give it me now, you must remember me when you're a rich lady riding in your carriage in silks and satins."
"Oh! Yes, I will," said Lizzie with a smile of supreme satisfaction, taking up her gloves and preparing to put them on again.
"Wait a minute, my dear. I'll go through the cards once more, just to be certain there's no mistake about it, and maybe I shall be able to tell which way the riches are coming—whether from mother and father, uncle or aunt."
But Lizzie shook her head at this suggestion.
And the woman, watching her, presently said, "No, it ain't through either of these ways it'll come; and it won't be just yet either, for I can see you'll travel a bit and see the world—a good deal more of it than this little town can teach you."
While she was saying this the woman was moving the cards about, and pretending to read her predictions from those she turned up; but she kept her eyes on Lizzie, watching her face more than the cards. After this mummery had been gone through for several minutes, she suddenly threw down the cards with an angry expletive.
"If I wasn't afraid it 'ud turn out like that," she exclaimed, thumping the table with her clenched fist.
"Why, what is it?" said Lizzie with whitening lips, "Am I to be a servant after all?"