"Mamma!—there is my red silk—and my green—and my blue crape."
"No white dress. I must have you in white."
"I have a white frock. It is old."
"That wouldn't do, you dear child," said Mrs. Laval. "I'll have a muslin for you. Judy will be in white, and so must you."
Matilda bent over her work again with pulses throbbing and cheeks tingling with pleasure. But in another minute she looked up, and her face had changed.
"How much would that new white dress cost, mamma?"
"I don't know," Mrs. Laval answered carelessly. "Sash and all—twenty or twenty-five dollars perhaps."
Matilda went at her work again, but her fingers trembled. A minute more, and she had thrown it down and was kneeling at Mrs. Laval's knee.
"Mamma, I want to ask you something."
"You may," said Mrs. Laval smiling.