"They won't be wasted. I can eat it, Hannah," said Arthur.
"Eat it, then," she said, turning the half-cooked omelette out upon a plate.
Arthur carried it to the dining-room, where supper was laid. "It's just as good, Moll, as though Hannah had roasted herself over the fire at it," said Arthur good-naturedly.
A few days later, as Arthur was returning home in the evening, he met Hannah a short distance from their own gate. "I've come out without the front-door key, Mr. Arthur, but you won't mind coming round the kitchen way with me, will you, for I want to speak to you."
"All right, Hannah! fire away. Has Molly been making any more omelettes for supper?"
"No, sir; if it was nothing worse than that it wouldn't matter, but that old Andrews has been here to-day at his old tricks. I can't abide that man. He never came to see your poor papa but he upset him, and now he's begun on the young ladies. I wish I'd had my dish-cloth handy when he went out and I'd ha' pinned it to his tail; coming here interfering! I wish I was his wife, I'd let him know," concluded Hannah as she led the way into the kitchen.
"But what was it he came about?" asked Arthur in a serious tone. But he did not wait for Hannah's reply, he went on into the dining-room, where his sisters were sitting at work as usual. Molly's face bore traces of tears still, but Annie was looking calm and reserved.
WENT ON INTO THE DINING-ROOM
WHERE HIS SISTERS WERE SITTING AT WORK.
"So Andrews has been here to-day!" he said.