“Of course you don’t,” said Florence; “and I know that you will get your money in full. I’ll see to that. But I should love to go with you, Susie; and—may I go at once?”
“Indeed you may, darling. I have come for you,” said Susie Arbuthnot.
“Who will pack her things?” said Mrs Fortescue. “Bridget has no time to spare; when a woman is as poor as I am and has only one servant, she can’t have that servant’s time being given up doing odds and ends for penniless girls. Penniless girls ought to understand how to manage their own affaire; otherwise, they are no use in the world.”
“Hush!” said Susie, in so stern a voice that Mrs Fortescue turned and looked at her in some amazement. “You will be sorry another time that you spoke like this. Come upstairs with me, Florence; we will soon put your things into their trunks, and then we can drive to the Grange. I will order a fly.”
“I can pay for it, you know, Susie,” said poor Florence. “I have plenty of money, plenty, until the twentieth of January—”
“And after that, nothing—nothing at all,” said Mrs Fortescue. “Did ever any one before in all the world hear of such improvidence—girls who have had hundreds a year spent on them to be brought down to nothing! Oh, I have been shamefully deceived! But you’ll rue it—both of you. Yes, you will. That sister of yours, Florence, is just as improvident as you are, and has just as little power of making herself useful to any one. This fine woman. Lady Marian Dixie, will soon discover her uselessness. But go upstairs, my dear, do. I shall be very glad to have your room. I cannot afford, however, to give you any of Bridget’s valuable time.”
Florence ran upstairs as if in a dream. Susie accompanied her.
“Don’t fret, Florence,” she said, when they entered the pretty bedroom. “She is a very hardened, money-loving woman, and you have managed to disappoint her; but she will get over this, of course.”
“And you are not disappointed?” said Florence.
“Oh no, darling,” said Susie with a smile. “I never in the very least cared about your money. It was you I loved, and you are not changed.”