"She is a friend of a friend of mine," explained the governess, "and I met her at this friend's house a few days ago. When she spoke of you, she said what a nice, neat, tidy girl you were. You have your mother to thank for a good deal, Fanny," added the governess.
"Yes, ma'am," answered Fanny, and then she asked after several schoolfellows and teachers whom she did not see in their places.
She stayed until playtime, and then went out and had a chat with some other old friends until the children returned to school, and then she went home.
"Fanny, dear, I am so sorry, and so is father, I know; but Jack has just been to say they have got to work late to-night, and so father won't be able to walk home with you as he hoped he should." And Mrs. Brown kissed Fanny by way of consolation for this disappointment, and also in token that all the disagreeables of the morning were over and done with.
"Oh, mother, how tiresome everything is!" exclaimed Fanny. "I made sure father would walk home with me."
"Never mind, Fan, mother will go instead," said Eliza, who always thought a walk with her mother the best part of any holiday.
But Fanny sniffed at the proposal. She was afraid that if her mother went with her she might ask more questions about the watch; and if she thought she ought not to have given ten shillings for it, what would she say if she found out that the price she had agreed to pay was two pounds in monthly instalments of three shillings a month. The woman who had come to the kitchen entrance at her mistress's house had assured her that it was the cheapest watch that had ever been sold for that money; but she was afraid that her mother might not be of the same opinion, and so, for peace' sake, she resolved to say nothing about this to anybody, nor mention the watch again to any one at home.
She found there was a pile of her own old underclothes on the table when she went into the kitchen, and Eliza was contentedly patching and darning these under her mother's direction.
"There is a good bit of wear in some of the things," said Mrs. Brown, in answer to Fanny's look of surprise. "You grew so fast the last year, Fanny, that you got too big for them, and they were torn rather than worn out, and so I think they will do for Eliza for a little while."
"But you can't make frocks out of these things," said Fanny.