“Dear me, Miss Hattie, I’ve told you again and again I haven’t seen any letter-carrier to-day.”
“Nor any letter for me, Miss Scrimp?”
“I vow to goodness, no!”
“Will you swear on the Bible you have not had a letter for me in your possession to-day, Miss Scrimp?”
And Hattie reached beneath her pillow for the Sacred Book, which she ever read for a few minutes each night before she closed her eyes in sleep.
“You’ve no right to make me swear. I’ve told you I haven’t seen no letter of yours, Miss Hattie, and that ought to satisfy you.”
“But it does not, Miss Scrimp. Your hesitation, if I had no other proof, would condemn you. Now I know you had a letter of mine in your hands to-day, and I want it.”
“I hain’t got any letter of yours to give you.”
“Then you will force me to get an officer and have you arrested. I would have saved you the disgrace if I could, but since you are obstinate I will let the law take its course. You can go to your room. I will go for an officer.”
“Dear me, maybe some one has laid a letter for you down in my room. If they have, I’ll go and bring it to you,” said Miss Scrimp, now thoroughly frightened by the determined air and spirit of our heroine.