“Never?” asked Patty, with a sigh.
“Of course not. What do you take her for? Noble ladies what is ladies don’t do mean sort of things.”
Patty sighed again.
“What are you sighing for, Miss Patty? I hate to hear young ladies giving way to their feelings in that sort of fashion.”
“I was only thinking that you compared Aunt Sophy to Pauline.”
“And why shouldn’t I? Is it you who want to belittle your sister? Miss Pauline is as high-spirited as ever young lady was, but neither would she do a mean or underhand thing.”
Patty suppressed her next sigh. For a long time she did not speak.
“Nurse,” she said when she next broke silence, “did you in the whole course of your life ever tell a lie?”
“My word!” cried nurse—“Miss Marjorie, you’ll prick your little fingers if you hold the needle like that. This way, lovey. Did I ever tell a lie, Miss Patty? Goodness gracious me! Well, to be sure, perhaps I told a bit of a tarradiddle when I was a small child; but an out-and-out lie—never, thank the Almighty!”
“But what is the difference between a lie and a tarradiddle?”