"This will never do," thought the worldly woman; yet she was afraid to hurry her.
"I was thinking," said Mrs. Lesly, at length, after continuing in the same attitude of observation, "I was thinking how very strange it was that I never remember our talking about money, but you were making spills all the time."
"Why, you see," said Mrs. Villars, carelessly, "I never thought it worth while to bring my work for the short time I generally stay, and I never like to sit quite idle."
"Yes; but when you stayed with me for a month, it happened then as well," said Mrs. Lesly, in a musing kind of tone.
"It was rather strange, certainly—but more strange that you should remember such trifles," said Mrs. Villars, her face turning rather disagreeably pale.
Poor Mrs. Lesly, fearing she had offended her, took up her pen, and wrote like a frightened child, then quickly handed her the draft.
Mrs. Villars hastily rose and kissed her, and then, taking her pen from her hand, wrote a memorandum of the loan, which Mrs. Lesly placed in her work-basket.
At that moment, Amy ran into the room, crying out—
"Mamma, mamma, I have cut my finger—do please give me a piece of rag, or I shall spoil my dress."