The door opened just then, and Emily came in. Lucy was always glad to see her, doubly so now, as she interrupted a tête-à-tête that threatened to be unpleasant.
“I have come, Lucy,” she said, “to ask you to go and look at bonnets. The French importations open to-day. Mamma will join us presently.”
“It seems to me,” said Tom, somewhat rudely, “that you women spend all your time running round after finery.”
Emily looked at him for a minute as if she had a great mind to retort, but Lucy quickly interposed with,
“If you want the benefit of my taste to aid you in selecting for yourself, Emily, I am ready to go. I don’t mean to get any thing for myself. I don’t want a hat.”
“You may not mean to get one,” said Emily, “but that you want one is certain. Yours is shabby enough in all conscience.”
“It will do well enough for the present,” said Lucy in a dejected tone.
“You can’t wear a summer bonnet all winter, Lucy; and if you are going to get one at all, you might as well get it now, and have the comfort of it.”
Tom looked cross, however; and though what Emily said was true, Lucy did not feel as if she ought to indulge herself in even getting what she must have while he was out of temper. It was wonderful how much richer she felt when he was in a good humor.
Mrs. Sutherland now joined her daughters, and after a little while said,