“What is it you took up so gingerly?” inquired Julia.
“Nothing.”
“Why did you stoop, then?”
“To pick up a paper I let fall.”
“And is that paper nothing?”
“Nothing that concerns me.”
“Then let it lie there for whom it does concern.”
But Lucetta had no intention that the letter should lie unheeded on the ground, for her only purpose in dropping it was to bring it again to Julia’s notice. She little knew how her mistress longed at that moment to have it in her own possession, but was too proud to acknowledge it. Lucetta could not refrain from some pert speeches, and her jesting words irritated Julia, especially when Lucetta declared she was taking the part of Proteus.
“I will have no more chatter about this,” said Julia; and she tore the letter and threw the pieces on the ground. “Go, get you gone, and let the papers lie!”