"I never heard of such impudence in my life."
"Nor me. But some people have manners of their own. Is that the way in which to treat a lady who comes to visit you--standing there and staring?"
"A lady!" Mrs. Harland gasped. "Do you think I don't remember you?"
Mrs. Harland's form absolutely swelled as she glared at the big woman seated in the easy-chair.
"You, Louisa Brown, whose name is to this day a byword in the village, to dare to come into my drawing-room--and in those clothes!"
The big woman was not taken at all aback.
"What is the matter with my clothes?" she asked.
"You, whom your own father turned into the streets, to dare to place yourself upon an equality with me!"
The big woman turned with an affable smile to the little one, who stood trembling and sniffing in the centre of the room.
"Queer old-fashioned folk they are this side. Now, to my thinking, one lady oughtn't to remind another lady of things she wishes to be forgotten."