"No, not this morning. You might lose it; and, besides, there is a hole in it, which needs mending. I will send it to Exeter, when I can, and have it repaired and made a little smaller. Now go at your work; and if you have finished it by the time I come down, we will go to the lodge and see the little twins."
"What are you going to do, Cousin Debby?"
"I am going into the green chamber, to look over some drawers."
Left to herself, Lucy worked very industriously for half an hour. She kept the work-box open before her, and now and then she glanced at the contents. But Lucy was not used to working without being over-looked; and she had never been trusted in all her life.
Presently she dropped her work in her lap, and began to take out the articles in the work-box one by one and lay them upon the table.
At last she put on the thimble and began sewing with it. She took a few stitches with great satisfaction,—when all at once the eye of the needle found out the hole in the top of the thimble, and entered pretty deeply under Lucy's finger-nail. Now, there are few things more provocative of hasty action than a prick under the nails. Lucy dropped her work and gave her hand a sudden shake,—when off flew the thimble through the long window which opened to the terrace.
At the same moment she heard Cousin Debby coming down-stairs, stopping on the landing to talk with the housemaid. Hastily restoring the other articles to their places, Lucy peeped out to see what had become of the thimble. There it lay, just under one of the low flower-vases which adorned the terrace, half hidden under a broad-leaved plant which grew there. Lucy could see it plainly, and was just going to step out of the window to recover it, when Cousin Debby came out at the hall door and along towards the bow-window.
Hastily Lucy shrank back, and resumed her work, her fingers trembling and her heart sick with fear. Cousin Debby would no doubt see the thimble, and then all would be over.
"Well, Lucy, how has the work progressed?" asked Cousin Debby, pausing before the open window.
"Not very well," said Lucy, trying to speak quietly. "I pricked my finger, and I had to stop and wait for it to be done bleeding."