"Clarissa too!" thought Matilda to herself. But she made no answer. She came by the fire to warm herself; for her mother's room had been cold.
"You shouldn't go so near the fire; you'll burn your dress," Clarissa remarked.
"No," said Matilda; and she said but that one word.
"You will take the colour out, if you do not set it on fire; and that is what I meant. That is your best dress, Tilly."
It was true; and, sorely against her will, Matilda stepped a little back.
"You were a great while at Sunday-School to-day," Clarissa went on.
"No," said Matilda; "not longer than usual."
"What do you learn there?"
"Why, cousin Issa, what do you teach at your Sunday-School?" said Matilda. For Clarissa had sheered off from Mr. Richmond's church, and gone into a neighbouring one which belonged to the denomination in which she had been brought up.
"That is not good manners to answer one question with another, little one."