"But I tell you I've not done with her yet, and shan't for many a good while," repeated Burton. "I dare say she'll be tired first if it comes to that."
"Can you ever give her back what you've taken from her?" asked Anne breathlessly, trying to pierce the self-confidence she did not understand.
"Well, it was something like slaving all one day and then starving the next before," said Burton, "and she lives like a lady now. You should just see the fancy-work she gets through—no dressmaking now!"
Anne turned to Jane, who was sitting flushed and resentfully embarrassed in the satin armchair, looking expectantly to Richard to see her through, shocked, too, and ready to cry at this first contact and opinion of her neighbours upon her doings.
"Where's your sister Lizzie, Jane?" she asked.
"Out at service," replied Jane, unwillingly, fidgetting with her hands and feet.
"So your coming here has meant that she's got no home," said Anne.
"She could have had one if she'd liked," said Burton. "The house is big enough for us all."
"Thank God for His protecting grace!" said Anne, "she was able to resist the temptation."
"She'd have had to go out to service in any case," said Jane, spitefully; "the neighbours was so very kind to two girls."