She kisses the little hand Bonnibel has given her reverently and tenderly, as if it were some precious thing.
"Lucy, I am going to test your fidelity," says the girl, drearily. "I am going away to Europe next week. Will you go with me?"
Lucy stares open-mouthed.
"To Yurrup, Miss Bonnibel! Away off to them furrin parts?"
"Yes, Lucy, away off there. Does your courage fail you?" her mistress inquires, with a slight, sad smile.
"No, no, ma'am. I don't like furrin people much; but I'll go to the ends of the earth with you!" is the resolute reply.
"Your devotion shall not be taxed that far, Lucy. We will go to France."
"That heathen land," exclaims Lucy, "where the monseers eats frogs and snakes?"
Bonnibel cannot repress a smile at the girl's quick gesture of disgust.
"You will like the French people better, I hope, when you stay among them two years, for I shall probably stay in Paris that long. I am going to school there, Lucy. You know that I have never been to school in my life, and my governesses were not strict enough with me. There are many things I do not know yet, that one moving in society I frequent should know. So I am going to learn something yet. It is never too late to mend, you know."