“Did you see much of him?”
“Hardly anything. He was in London all and every day.”
This negative scarcely pleased its utterer. It sounded to her own ears too emphatic, but it passed current admirably.
“Yes, poor dear, I suppose he thinks he works quite hard.”
The slight tinge of friendly contempt in the tone and words would have roused another nature to angry partisanship; but, as Miss Ransome wisely and soothingly remarked to herself, paupers could never afford to be angry or to defend their friends, and she therefore curved her lips into an acquiescent smile.
“I suppose he was very nice to you when you did see him?”
“Very nice, when he remembered I was there.”
The catechiser looked at her curiously. “I should not think it was easy for any one to forget that you were there.”
“I mean that I did not make much difference to him, one way or the other,” rejoined Bonnybell, still carefully labouring to erase some undesirable impression. “I was much more in Mrs. Tancred’s way, poor thing!”
“You were a good deal with her?”—with a slight accent of surprise.