"Why, Isa, no, indeed!"
"Didn't? Why, that's nothing to the way she's slandered her; and Grace her best friend, too."
Lucy was horrified.
"Do you remember when you, and I, and Cassy staid, ever so long ago, to scrub our desks? Well, don't you know how Cassy spoke of Mrs. Clifford's oyster party?"
"Yes, I do. She said Grace appeared like a lady."
"There, Lucy Lane, is that the way you hear? Didn't understand it, did you, any more than a baby? She was hinting that Grace talked like old folks—very pert and bold."
"O, was she?"
"Of course she was, Lucy. Can't you see through a mill-stone, child? I wouldn't want any one to hint about me the way Cassy does about Grace."
"Nor I wouldn't, either," echoed Lucy.
"Didn't you think, Lucy, by what Cassy said, that her ma wanted to break up the friendship? You told me at the time that you thought so, now certainly."