"Who is Mary Lampet?" said Henry.
"One of Bessy's new friends," said Mrs. Goodriche; "a woman who sometimes comes for a day's work to my house."
"And such a curious old body," said Miss Bessy; "she wears a blue striped petticoat, and she generally has a pipe in her mouth."
"Never mind her, my dear," said Mrs. Goodriche:
"Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild and I have a good deal to say to each other; we do not often meet, and we wish to have our share of talking; it is not for one person, and that one of the youngest, to have all the talk to herself."
Instead of noticing this remark, Miss Bessy looked round the table.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," she said; "aunt, you are wrong, I am not one of the youngest; there are three older, and three younger than me. I am Jack in the middle; and therefore I have a right to talk to the old people, and to the young ones too; and therefore I may talk most."
Henry was being gradually worked up by Miss Bessy to think that he might be as free as she was; and he began with, "Well now, is not that very odd?"
"My dear Henry," said Mr. Fairchild, "did not you hear Mrs. Goodriche say she thought that young people should not have all the talk to themselves?"
"Don't scold him," said Bessy; "he meant no harm."