“O, this will taste just as well,” said Miss Anne.
“I know it will taste just as well; but it will not look just right. Real tea is not white, like water.”
“Water is not white,” said Miss Anne; “milk is white; water is very different in appearance from milk.”
“What color is water, then?” said Lucy.
“It is not of any color,” said Miss Anne. “It is what we call colorless. Now, you want to have something in your tea-pot which is colored a little, like tea,—not perfectly colorless, like water.”
Lucy said yes, that that was exactly what she wanted. So Miss Anne took her tea-pot up, and went into the closet with it, and presently came out with it again, and put it upon the table. The reason why she took all this pains to please Lucy was, because she was so gentle and pleasant; and, although she often asked for things, she was not vexed or ill-humored when they could not be given to her.
Miss Anne then cut some thin slices of bread, and divided them into square pieces, so small that they could go on a small plate, which she brought from the closet. She also gave her a toasting-fork with a long handle, and told her that she might toast her own bread, and then spread it with butter. She gave her a little butter upon another plate.
When all these things were arranged, Miss Anne went away, telling Lucy that she had better make her breakfast last as long as she could, for she must remember that she could not go out at all that day; and that she must therefore economize her amusements.
“Economize? What do you mean by that, Miss Anne?” said Lucy.
“Why, use them carefully, and make them last as long as you can.”