"It was large enough to see," he added, "and I expect you to pay for it, Mattie." "What was it worth?" "You shall have the bill to settle, if you've saved as much--it will come in next week. And now, just understand, once for all, that I don't want to talk about it--that I object very much to talk about it." "Very well." The subject was dropped; Mattie felt herself in disgrace, and, intensely sorrowful at heart, she went down-stairs to tell Ann Packet all that her carelessness had brought upon her. "He's an old savage, my dear--don't mind him." "No, Ann--he's a dear old friend, and his anger is just enough. It was all my fault!" "Well, he's not such a bad master as he might be, pr'aps; but he isn't what he used to be before my ankles took to swelling, nothing like it." "It will soon blow over, I hope," said Mattie. "Bless your heart!--puffed away in a breath, it'll be." Mattie, ever ready to console others, received consolation in her turn; and hoped for the best. Late in the evening, Mr. Wesden departed, and early next day, much to Mattie's surprise, Harriet Wesden, with a box or two, arrived in a cab to the house. Mattie watched the entrance of the boxes, and looked very closely into the face of the young mistress. Harriet, with a smile that was well got up for the occasion, advanced to her. "Think, Mattie, of my coming here to spend a week with you--of being your companion. Why, it'll be the old times back again." "I should be more glad to see you if I thought there were no other reason, Miss Harriet," said Mattie--"but there is!" "Why, what can there----" Mattie caught her by the sleeve. "Your father suspects that I am not honest--the past life has come a little closer, and made him repent of all the past kindness--is not that it?" "No, no, Mattie, dear--you must not think that!" "He has grown suspicious of me--I can see it in his looks, in his altered manner; and, oh! I can do nothing to stop it--to show him that I am as honest as the day." "Patience, Mattie, dear," said Harriet, "we will soon prove that to him, if he require proof. If I have come at his wish, it was at my own, too, and you are exaggerating the reasons that have brought me hither." "I wonder why I stop here now," said Mattie, thoughtfully. "I, who am a young woman, and can get my own living. If he is tired of me, I have no right to stop." "You will stop for the sake of those who love you, and who have trust in you, Mattie; you will not think of going away." "Well, not yet awhile. I think," dashing a rebellious tear from her dark eyes, "that I can bear more than this before I leave you all. And if things _do_ look a little dark just now, I shall live them down, with God's help!" "There's nothing dark--it's three-fourths fancy. Think of my sorrows, Mattie, and thank heaven that you have never been in love!" "Dreadful sorrows yours are, Miss Harriet, I must say!" "People never think much of other people's sorrows," remarked Harriet, sententiously.