He had open letters in his hand, and when Charlotte came into the room, he was still reading them.

She went up and kissed him as was her wont, but he hardly noticed her as she did so, and she knew at once that something was the matter.
"What's the meaning of that ?" said he, throwing over the table a letter with a Milan postmark.

Charlotte was a little frightened as she took it up, but her mind was relieved when she saw that it was merely the bill of their Italian milliner.

The sum total was certainly large, but not so large as to create an important row.
"It's for our clothes, Papa, for six months before we came here.

The three of us can't dress for nothing, you know." "Nothing, indeed!" said he, looking at the figures which, in Milanese denominations, were certainly monstrous.
"The man should have sent it to me," said Charlotte.
"I wish he had with all my heart--if you would have paid it.