"Oh, she caught sight of that Jess Collins," announced Jack, who had followed her into the kitchen.
Her father looked from one to the other as Fanny's face flushed angrily.
"Look here, Fanny," he said, "it don't matter just for this once, of course, but it would not be wise to make a friend of Jessie Collins. She is about in the streets too much of a night to please me, and I told her father the other day that no girl of mine should ever be about as Jessie is, and so, to please me, I hope you won't go to meet her again."
"I didn't go to meet her, father," said Fanny, darting an angry look at her brother.
"There, no teasing, Jack," said his father. "Fanny is a visitor to-day, and I hope her first holiday will be a happy one," he said, patting her head. "See what a nice pudding mother has made for dinner, just because her girl was coming home for her first holiday."
If Brown had wondered why Fanny had ran off as she did, he thought it best to say nothing about it just now, and he made room for her to sit beside him, and pushed his own plate aside to make room for her dinner, which had been kept hot in front of the fire by Eliza.
"Never mind about the wages," she whispered, as she placed it on the table before her sister.
"You must make haste, or we shall eat all the pudding," said her father, jokingly.
Fanny had put the watch out of sight, and she was glad of it, for now there would be no more disagreeable questions asked unless her mother should say something about it, which at present seemed very unlikely. And so the dinner passed off pleasantly, and no reference was made to either watch or wages during the rest of the meal.
"I shall see you again at tea-time, my girl; and if we aren't wanted to work late to-night, I will see you home, like I used to see mother when she was a girl in service," and Brown nodded to his wife as he took his cap from its nail at the back of the door and went off with Jack to work.