Mrs. Lowndes
— that ain't far off. Put on your bonnet, Ellen, and run over
there, and ask her to let me have a little bees'-wax. I'll pay
her in something she likes best."
"Does Mrs. Lowndes keep bee-hives?" said Ellen, doubtfully.
"No; she makes the bees'-wax herself," said Miss Fortune, in
the tone she always took when anybody presumed to suppose she
might be mistaken in anything.
"How much shall I ask for?" said Ellen.
"Oh, I don't know — a pretty good piece."
Ellen was not very clear what quantity this might mean.
However, she wisely asked no more questions, and set out upon
her walk. It was hot and disagreeable; just the time of day
when the sun had most power, and Mrs. Lowndes' house was about
half-way on the road to Alice's. It was not a place where
Ellen liked to go, though the people always made much of her;
she did not fancy them, and regularly kept out of their way
when she could. Miss Mary Lawson was sitting with Mrs. Lowndes
and her daughter, when Ellen came in and briefly gave her
aunt's message.
"Bees'-wax," said Mrs. Lowndes — "well, I don't know — How
much does she want?"
"I don't know, Ma'am, exactly: she said a pretty good piece."
"What's it for, do you know, honey?"
"I believe it's to put in some tallow for candles," said
Ellen; "the tallow was too soft, she said."
"I didn't know Miss Fortune's tallow was ever anything but the
hardest," said Sarah Lowndes.
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