Mrs. Brown reached the school just as the girls came trooping into the playground, and she went on as soon as the crowd had passed, and Miss Martin placed a chair for her near her own, for she thought she looked very ill, and she said so.
"No, ma'am, I am not ill, but I think I got a bit overtired the day Fanny came home for her holiday;" and she sighed as though the memory of that day had a pain in it that could not be forgotten.
"It is about Eliza that I want to see you. I heard this afternoon that you would not be able to let her go to the seaside after all," said Miss Martin; and she looked as though she thought Mrs. Brown ought to do anything rather than let her child lose such a chance as the Vicar had offered.
Mrs. Brown coloured. "I wonder who could have said such a thing!" she exclaimed. "We are working away—Eliza and I—to get her things ready, and I hope we shall get the new frocks as well by the time they are wanted," she added.
"Has there been any difficulty in this matter?" said the governess. "I thought Fanny would be able to help you a little, for she told me what nice new clothes you were making for her to take with her to her first place; and, of course, she has her first month's wages now, and very little use for the money."
The governess echoed exactly what her own thoughts had been, until she saw Fanny and that watch. But however much Mrs. Brown might have been pained by her daughter's behaviour, she did not wish the governess to know anything about it, and so she made some confused allusion to her husband's long illness, which left Miss Martin in doubt as to whether Fanny had helped her mother or not; but at the same time the general character of the family was so good, that she said—
"Now, Mrs. Brown, you must not let Eliza miss this chance of going to the sea, and so I will ask you to accept the loan of five shillings for a few weeks. You can repay it a shilling a week, as you can spare the money; but I want you to get all Eliza will need to make her tidy and comfortable. There is a warm woollen dress of my own that does not fit me since I had it washed, but would, I think, make a nice one for the seaside, if the weather should happen to be too cold for cotton frocks. If you will come home with me, you might take it back with you."
"Oh, thank you, ma'am! Indeed, I shall be very glad to accept your kind offer," said Mrs. Brown; and as she spoke, the tears filled her eyes, and she looked up so gratefully at Miss Martin that the lady felt quite glad she had remembered the old dress that had been a source of vexation to her lately.
To Mrs. Brown it was a splendid gift. Just what Eliza needed, for her own winter frock she had outgrown, and it was very shabby and threadbare, while this was soft and warm, and just the colour suitable for a seaside frock, and she carried home her parcel, feeling so thankfully delighted, that she might have been walking on air rather than common earth.
"More work, Eliza," she said, holding up her parcel as soon as she went in.