"He had no intention of insulting you, and I do not want him called a beggar, for he isn't. Even though he was, I have yet to learn that poverty is a crime."
"I see plainly this is no place for me. The most you can do now is to turn me out of doors."
"I do not wish to do anything of the kind, but feel called upon to advise that you think the matter over before speaking again."
"That is sufficient, Nancy Curtis, quite sufficient. Jane Hayes, will you go with me, or do you prefer to remain?"
"I shall stay here," Mrs. Hayes replied; and with a fling of her skirts, which was probably intended to express both indignation and injury received, Mrs. Souders sailed out of the room.
Chapter XIV.
AFTER THE STORM.
Jack who had gathered up the fragments and swept the crumbs from the floor, now looked about him in alarm.
The sense of having been wrongly treated was overpowered by the thought that he was the cause, however innocent, of plunging Aunt Nancy into new troubles.
It seemed just then as if he was pursued by some unkind fate which brought to him and those who befriended him all manner of misfortune.