Mrs. Brown choked back her tears, and wiped her eyes that she might see to write her name where the man told her it was to be written, and having done this, and shut the street door, she could do as she pleased with these memorials of her lost darling. For nearly an hour she sat tearless, but with a bitter pang at her heart; for, try as she would, she was forced to admit that there was conclusive evidence that self, and self-gratification had been the ruling spirit of Fanny's life to the very last. But this should not be known to any one but herself. She would put away the things, lock the box, and keep the key. She replaced the watch and chain in its bag, puzzled a little as she read the rules printed on the collecting-card, but holding to the belief in what Fanny had told her that she had bought the watch for ten shillings. Then, when the well-known articles, which she herself had made, were replaced in the box, the new brown dress was shaken out and examined, and when the quality of the material was noted and the way in which it was made, Mrs. Brown exclaimed—
"Where could the silly girl have bought this? She certainly could not afford it!" And tears filled her eyes once more, for how could she endure to blame Fanny now that the silence of death severed them, and she could not explain how and why she had bought this expensive dress? At any rate, no one else should see it. She would hide her daughter's folly in her own heart, that no word of blame might be spoken or even thought of by any one but herself, and for her she must learn to think kindly and tenderly of poor Fanny, even though bitter thoughts of blame must sometimes mingle with them. She folded the new brown dress carefully, and put it at the top of the other things in the box, then closed the lid and locked it, before either of the girls came home from school.
Selina looked at her mother closely as she came in.
"Is there anything the matter, mother?" she asked.
"No, dear, nothing, only I have a little headache to-day."
"Mother, I met Eliza as I came out of school, and she told me to tell you that she is coming home to tea this afternoon." It was Minnie who spoke, and Selina at once asked when she had seen Eliza.
"As I was coming out of school," repeated her sister. "You always stay behind to the last minute, and so, of course, you missed seeing her, for she could only stay a moment to ask how mother was, and to tell me she was coming home to tea with her to-day."
Selina pouted. "It was all teacher's fault," she grumbled. "She made me go back into the class and sit down because I pushed past Bella Hinton, and the little stupid cried about it."
"Well, it was unkind to push a poor little lame thing like Bella," said Minnie, reproachfully.
"Oh, well, people have to look after themselves if they don't want to be left behind," said Selina.