“What a very bright morning it is!” was the reply. “This is just the light for finishing my drawing. If I do not go out till the afternoon, I can carry it home; and it is promised this week.”
“To-morrow will do for that, my dear; and I have to go into Gracechurch-street after breakfast, and you may as well make that your destination for to-day.”
“I have been there so very much lately.”
“Have you? Then it is better avoided. What say you to Cheapside?”
“I have twice had a note refused in that neighbourhood, and I never dare go there again.”
“You are right. It is surely a longtime since you went to the Soho Bazaar.”
Hester gasped as she replied that that place was so close, there was no room to breathe,—scarcely any possibility of getting away quickly.
“This is a very fine day for the Park. You would enjoy a turn there after shopping in Regent-street.”
“What else can I buy?” asked Hester, listlessly looking round her. “I have no more room for furniture, and I am tired of getting new things for myself.”
“Besides, my dear, you could not wear them. It would not do to make any sudden difference in your appearance out of doors. Indoors it does not signify, as there is nobody to observe you but our own people. Indoors I can have the pleasure of seeing my pretty Hester look as she should do,—graceful and polished as the highest ladies of the land.”