Her aunt cast a look at her.
"Yes, you may help me. Go and put on a pair of white gloves, and a silk apron, and then you'll be ready."
Ellen looked down at herself. "Oh, my merino! I forgot about that. I'll go and change it."
Miss Fortune said nothing, and Ellen went.
When she came back, the things were all wiped, and as she was about to put some of them away, her aunt took them out of her hands, bidding her "go and sit down!"
Ellen obeyed, and was mute; while Miss Fortune dashed round with a display of energy there seemed to be no particular call for, and speedily had everything in its place, and all straight and square about the kitchen. When she was, as a last thing, brushing the crumbs from the floor into the fire, she broke the silence again. The old grandmother sat in the chimney corner, but she seldom was very talkative in the presence of her stern daughter.
"What did you come home for, to-night? Why didn't you stay at
Mr. Humphreys'?"
"Miss Alice didn't ask me."
"That means, I suppose, that you would if she had?"
"I don't know, Maam; Miss Alice wouldn't have asked me to do anything that wasn't right."