"Oh, mother, you have come a long way without us!" said Selina, reproachfully. "You said we might walk as far as the corner of Green Lane, and we have not got nearly so far. It isn't fair," said the little girl, in a complaining tone.
"Didn't you stay long with Fanny?" asked the more thoughtful Minnie.
"Not very long, dear. You see, Fanny's time is not her own now; she is in service," said Mrs. Brown, by way of warding off any further questions on this subject.
Then Selina suddenly remembered that she had been told to ask her mother to go and see her governess that evening.
"There, I had nearly forgotten all about it!" exclaimed the little girl. "May we go with you to teacher's house?" she asked.
"No, dear. If Miss Martin had wanted to say anything to you she would have told you in school," replied Mrs. Brown. "Minnie shall take the key, and go and get the tea ready by the time I come back. I had a cup of tea at Fanny's; but I dare say I shall be ready for some more when I get home. Now, my nearest way to Miss Martin's will be to turn up the next road, but you two had better go straight home now."
"It is a shame to have such a little bit of walk with you, mother," grumbled Selina. "You must have stopped a tiny while with Fanny. I'll ask her when she comes home why she didn't keep you a long long time."
"We shouldn't have liked that," said Minnie, clasping her mother's hand tighter as she spoke. "I think it was kind of Fanny not to keep mother away from us, for fear we should be waiting for her."
Mrs. Brown let them talk on until they reached the corner where their roads parted, and then she bade the two girls go home quickly, while she walked onwards to see their teacher. She felt in her pocket to make sure that she had got her precious letter from the seaside, for she had no doubt that Selina had been chattering at school about this, and Miss Martin wanted to see it for herself, and hear exactly what had been said. But to her surprise, Miss Martin said no word about the letter that was so important to Mrs. Brown.
"I want to have a few words with you about poor Jessie Collins," she said, as soon as her visitor was seated. "I have heard from Polly what a good friend you have been to them ever since her mother was taken ill, and I want to know whether we can help the poor girls in any way. You see, they are rather difficult people to deal with, and the Vicar being away from home makes matters rather worse, for Collins being such a strange, independent sort of man, Mr. Nye, our curate, might give offence if he called upon him just now."