“I insisted on one member of your family finding the time yesterday and to-day, and the consequence is that she has gone through the first volume and part of the second since Susy was so obliging as to send them hither. I was in hopes that you had brought the third volume; but I perceive that we shall have to wait for it now.”
Susy was examining very closely the pattern on her plate when Mrs. Burney turned to her, saying:
“Does Mr. Crisp mean that you got that novel and sent it hither to Fanny?”
“Only part of it—no more than two volumes,” said Susy quickly, as though anxious to submit extenuating circumstances to the notice of her stepmother.
“Did you get it at Hill's library, or where?” inquired Mrs. Burney.
“I did not get it at a library,” replied Susy slowly, as a reluctant witness might answer an incriminating question.
“What, did you buy it? Did you spend your money on it?” cried Mrs. Burney, with a note of amazement not free from anxiety.
“Oh, no; I did not buy it,” said Susy.
“How did it come into your hands, then—tell me that?”
“Cousin Edward brought it for Fanny.”