I'd give anything to
go where I couldn't get sight or sound of that horrid Snipe. Can't I go
with you, Miss Ercildoune?"
"I have no counter behind which to station you," said Francesca,
smiling.
"No, I know,--of course; but"--looking at the daintily arrayed
figure--"you have plenty of elegant things to make, and I can do pretty
much anything with my needle, if you'd like to trust me with some work.
And then--I'm ashamed to ask so much of you, but a few words from you to
your friends, I'm sure, would send me all that I could do, and more."
"You think so?" Miss Ercildoune inquired, with a curious intonation to
her voice, and the strangest expression darkening her face. "Very well,
it shall be tried."
Sallie was nonplussed by the tone and look, but she comprehended the
closing words fully and with delight. "You will take me with you," she
cried. "O, how good, how kind you are! how shall I ever be able to thank
you?"
"Don't thank me at all," said Miss Ercildoune, "at least not now. Wait
till I have done something to deserve your gratitude."
But Sallie was not to be silenced in any such fashion, and said her say
with warmth and meaning; then, after some further talk about time and
plans, went away carrying a bit of work which Miss Ercildoune had found,
or made, for her, and for which she had paid in advance.
"God bless her!" thought Sallie; "how nice and how thoughtful she is!
Most ladies, if they'd done anything for me, would have given me some
money and made a beggar of me, and I should have felt as mean as
dish-water.
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