"Yes." Miss Jenner spoke rather shortly.
"Well," said Mildred, "you see, after his death—we had almost nothing. Mamma is giving music lessons, and I came here, just because it was all I could get to do. Bertie is at school," the girl added, a little proudly.
"But your mother does not live in Milltown?" the lady inquired, with a frown of perplexity.
"Not quite in the town," said Mildred. "We have a little cottage on the Dorsettown road. Papa seemed to think, before he died, that he would like us to come to live here."
Miss Jenner answered nothing for a few moments. She tapped the counter with her fingers, pushed the point of her parasol into the ground, and coughed significantly one or twice before she spoke.
"Well, Mildred," she said, finally, "I suppose you know the way to my house? I should like you to come to tea with me next Tuesday. I am expecting some young friends."
Mildred Lee could scarcely answer for a few moments. How often she had passed and repassed the fine old house in Lane Street, wondering what grandeur and comfort must repose between its walls, but never had she dreamed of receiving an invitation from its owner.
"Well," exclaimed Miss Jenner, drawing out her well-filled purse, "don't you mean to come?"
Mildred smiled, and drew a quick breath.
"Oh yes, thank you, Miss Jenner, very much," she contrived to say; and almost before she could revolve the question further in her mind Miss Jenner was gone, and she found herself face to face with Mr. Tom. Now this young man was Mildred's special aversion. Not that he was as overbearing with her as with the other girls, but that he seemed to have singled her out for attentions that Mildred found odious.