“Oh, well, I suppose you must have it. It’s very hard, though, for I do like nice things, even if I am in the country.”
“Oh, thanks awfully. I’ll take mine to your room.” Then the door would bang and Hilary’s footsteps be heard flying up the staircase, but in less than ten minutes she would be down again with another request. “You don’t mind, I suppose, if I take your silver brushes?”
“My silver brushes! I should think I do mind, indeed. What next?”
“But you never use them. You might just as well lend them to me as leave them lying in their case upstairs.”
“I am keeping them until I go away visiting. If I don’t even use them myself, it’s not likely I am going to lend them to anyone else.”
“Lettice, how mean! What harm could I do to the brushes in a fortnight? You know what a grand house Miss Carr’s is, and it would be too horrid for me to go with a common wooden brush. I do think you might lend them to me!”
“Oh, well, you can have them if you like, but you are not afraid of asking, I must say! Is there anything else—?”
“Not from you; at least, I don’t think so just now. But, Norah, I want your bangle—the gold one, you know! Lend it to me, like a dear, won’t you?”
“If you lose it, will you buy me a new one?”
“I won’t lose it. I’ll only wear it in the evening, and I’ll be most awfully careful.”