She was soon satisfied that she could not do better than make a proposal to Letty which she had for some time contemplated—namely, that she should take up her permanent abode with her, and help her in the shop. Letty was charmed, nor ever thought of the annoyance it would be to her aunt. Mary had thought of that, but saw that, for Letty to allow the prejudices of her aunt to influence her, would be to order her life not by the law of that God whose Son was a workingman, but after the whim and folly of an ill-educated old woman. A new spring of life seemed to bubble up in Letty the moment Mary mentioned the matter; and in serving she soon proved herself one after Mary's own heart. Letty's day was henceforth without a care, and her rest was sweet to her. Many customers were even more pleased with her than with Mary. Before long, Mary, besides her salary, gave her a small share in the business.
Mrs. Wardour carried her custom to the Turnbulls.
When the paint was dry which obliterated the old sign, people saw the now one begin with an M ., and the sign-writer went on until there stood in full, Mary Marston . Mr. Brett hinted he would rather have seen it without the Christian name; but Mary insisted she would do and be nothing she would not hold just that name to; and on the sign her own name, neither more nor less, should stand. She would have liked, she said, to make it William and Mary Marston ; for the business was to go on exactly as her father had taught her; the spirit of her father should never be out of the place; and if she failed, of which she had no fear, she would fail trying to carry out his ideas-but people were too dull to understand, and she therefore set the sign so in her heart only.
Her old friends soon began to come about her again, and it was not many weeks before she saw fit to go to London to add to her stock.
The evening of her return, as she and Letty sat over a late tea, a silence fell, during which Letty had a brooding fit.
"I wonder how Cousin Godfrey is getting on?" she said at last, and smiled sadly.
"How do you mean getting on ?" asked Mary.
"I was wondering whether Miss Yolland and he—"
Mary started from her seat, white as the table-cloth.
"Letty!" she said, in a voice of utter dismay, "you don't mean that woman is—is making friends with him ?"