"Well, you must save some of the pieces, and go and match it after dinner. You must pay half the cost, too, for if you had taken more care it would not have happened."
Fanny burst into tears, not for the loss of the jug so much as that she would have to part with some of her money to pay for it, and she resolved to be more careful with the crockery in future. Already she had broken several cups and plates, but her mistress had simply warned her against being careless. Now she wished her mistress had made her pay for the plates, they would have cost far less than the jug, and she would have handled it more carefully. Some such thought as this had been in the lady's mind, when she said Fanny must pay half the cost of this breakage, and she decided that she must be a little more strict with her young servant in future. Hitherto she had been very lenient towards her in many things, but Fanny's behaviour this morning had convinced her that she must look after her more closely, or the work of the house would be slighted and neglected.
It was an unhappy day both for mistress and maid. The mistress, of course, knew nothing of the cause that made Fanny so cross and negligent with her work. And Fanny resolved that no one should know anything about her watch, and how she was paying for it. Her mother had told her she knew nothing about buying a watch, and other people would laugh, and call her a fool, if they heard she had been cheated of ten shillings; for that was what Fanny began to fear might be the meaning of the amount not being set down on the card.
It made her very angry to think anybody could cheat her, but she resolved not to let any one else know it. She was determined no one should be able to say, 'What a fool Fanny Brown was over that watch!' The money she had to pay for the water-jug reduced still further the sum she had left of her month's wages, and she also made the painful discovery that her boots were wearing out.
Now, Fanny had not thought of wanting new boots. What she did want was a new best dress; for when her mother provided her with new clothes this had not been included, because Mrs. Brown could not afford it, for one thing, and also she thought the old one would last a month or two longer, and then Fanny would have saved enough money from her wages to buy it for herself.
Fanny thought of the new frock, and groaned as she saw the condition of her boots, and then she reflected that she was going home the next day for her second monthly holiday, and also to see Eliza, who was to start with the Vicarage party for the seaside the following day.
Fanny did not look very happy when she got home the next morning, and was scarcely in the mood to rejoice with her sister when she told her that she had got two new cotton frocks, a nice woollen one, and also the material for a new best dress, which her aunt had sent.
"I'm sure you don't want that, then!" snapped Fanny. "If you have got a dress good enough for Governess to wear you can keep that for best, and let me have the new one."
"But aunt sent you a new frock last year, and she said it was my turn now," protested Eliza, who felt very disappointed that her sister showed so little interest in her affairs.
She had not packed her box, because she felt sure Fanny would like to see everything that was going in it. And now Fanny scarcely noticed anything, but just turned up her nose when she saw how carefully her own old clothes had been patched and mended and made to fit her younger sister.