Matilda glanced at her with wide open, innocent eyes.
"Throw that letter into the fire," said Kate; "you had no right to read it to me. Throw it in; be quick! Why don't you do what you are told?"
"Yes, of course," said Matilda; "but how queer! So you are to be a charity girl, after all."
"Hush," said Kate; "hush!"
She snatched the letter from Matilda's hands, and flung it into the blaze; the flames licked it up quickly; the writing disappeared, and Kate turned round with a ready laugh and roses on her cheeks to greet the young actors who at that moment bustled into the room.
"Does she really mind, after all?" thought Matilda to herself, as she watched her.