This did not quite please Miriam. She had often wondered where Fanny lived, and why she had not been asked to go home to tea with her, and supposed that her home was hardly respectable, or she would have been invited to go there.
In reality it was Fanny's foolish pride that had made her unwilling to let her friend know where she lived; for Miriam had made no secret of the fact that her father was a small farmer, which sounded grand to Fanny, who was painfully conscious of how one thing after the other had been taken out of the home and sold to meet the expense of her father's long illness, and as yet they could not afford to replace this parlour furniture; but Fanny had spoken of it as though it still formed part of her home when Miriam told of the old-fashioned blue parlour that was seldom used, except for weddings and christenings.
Now, Miriam thought she would like to find out what sort of a house her friend's mother did occupy, and so she said—
"I am not going to church this evening, so if you will tell me where Fanny went to school, I will try to find her mother this evening."
But it had occurred to Mrs. Lloyd that it would be kinder to let the school-mistress know what had happened, and ask her to break the news to the girl's friends, rather than send a girl like Miriam to carry the message.
So she said, "Thank you for your kind offer; but I think the friend who recommended Fanny to me would be the best person to break this bad news to her mother and father."
"Well, I suppose it is bad news," said Miriam. "And I heard yesterday that scarlet fever was very much about."
"Very likely," Mrs. Lloyd replied; and then she waited for Miriam to go away, which she was obliged to do at last, without finding out where Mrs. Brown lived.
She went to her cousin's, and asked about Fanny's new dress.
"I took it home last Tuesday. I couldn't get yours and hers both done on the Saturday, I told you. What are you looking at?" said Mrs. Scott, in a tone of sudden alarm.