“Sir?” she said with a bewildered look. “Ha! ha! ha! don’t you know that’s what the Scotch call a leg of mutton? I’m sure you’ll find it relishing. Just send me your plate by the fair hands of our young Devine. I fear her divinity lies altogether in name, for certainly she’s neither heavenly nor spiritual, supernatural nor superhuman in appearance.” “No,” remarked Mrs. Goodenough in her slow, absent way as Patsy took the plate, “she’s not equivalent to that. What is it Shakespeare says?” “My classical sister--” began Mr. Sharp, in mock admiration. “Aunt Prue,” asked Hetty hastily, “did Mrs. Cox decide whether she would have real lace on her bonnet?” “Yes, and on the dress too. She’s running up a large bill, but she is able to pay it.” “She or her husband?” asked Mr. Sharp with a sneer. “She has none.” “Fortunate creature!” exclaimed Hetty in an aside. “She’s a rich widow,” continued Mrs. Sharp; and from that the talk went on, running altogether upon flowers, laces, and ribbons, hats, bonnets, and dresses, and the latest styles for each. “What puerilities!” remarked Mr. Sharp at length; “but the average female mind seems capable of dwelling upon nothing but trifles.” “And some male bodies--not a few either--appear to be quite willing to live upon--” “Hetty, Hetty,” interrupted her mother, “don’t be personal.” “Humph! let her talk!” he said with sarcasm; “it amuses her and harms no one. It’s no fault of hers that she wasn’t given an intellect capable of appreciating literary labor.” “Very true,” remarked his wife. “How does the work progress, Thorne? I hope this has been a good day for you.” “A woman of sense, knowing how my morning nap was broken in upon by unnecessary noises, and how very unsuitable was the breakfast served up to me afterward, would not ask such a question,” he answered loftily. “Come, girls,” said his wife, rising hastily, “I think we are all done, and there’s not a minute to be lost.” Floy rose with the others and accompanied them to the work-room. “What can you do, Miss Kemper?” asked Mrs. Sharp. “I think I may say I have been thoroughly drilled in plain sewing both by hand and with the machine,” Floy answered modestly; “and for the last year I have fitted and made my common dresses, and generally assisted with the better ones.” “You may begin with this,” said Mrs. Sharp, handing her a dress-skirt of cheap material. “That sounds very well, but we shall see what we shall see,” was what Floy read in her countenance. “And she shall see,” was the girl’s mental resolve. “She’s a treasure--this new arrival--if she only keeps on as she’s begun,” Mrs. Sharp said, with a triumphant smile, talking to Hetty that night after the apprentices and journey-women had retired; “as handy and neat a sewer as ever you saw, both by hand and on the machine, and turns off nearly twice as much work as any one of the others.”