“THE GIRLS WALKED ON IN SILENCE”
All the time she was holding forth the speaker peered anxiously to right and left in the darkness.
“Duty,” she added, “as I told you, compels me to remain. But I do so at the risk of my health.”
“You lying old humbug!” said a deep voice behind her in the darkness. “Then what have you got that red shawl on for, eh?”
The victim to duty spun round as if shot.
“Oh, it’s you, is it, Maria?” she said. “I know what you’re here for. Spying, spying; that’s your errand, you nasty, envious thing.”
“Then you’re wrong, that’s all. I’m here on a fool’s errand of my own, like yourself.”
A short, fat woman stepped into the faint reflection of a distant lantern, and they saw that she also wore a red shawl! Not even courtesy could describe this lady as of “uncertain age.”