“Did you give it her?... Look at our dinner!... You would pamper that child if we were starving. Talk to me of your five and threepence when you can give your baby a shilling!”
“I did not give it to her.”
“Who then?”
“A gentleman.”
“What gentleman?”
“A gentleman lodging at Mrs. Parrot’s.”
He looked at her with irritable suspicion, and then said:
“Did you see him give it? Did he take you and the child for beggars?... Confound his impudence!... Send Martha over to him with it.”
He turned to ring the bell.
“Stop!” said Dolly, quietly. “Nelly tells me that Mrs. Parrot tapped on the window to speak to her, and when she went in, she saw the gentleman, who kissed her, and gave her the shilling to buy her doll a parasol. No insult could have been intended by this.”