You sit here and amuse yourself as well as you can till the shop is shut, and then we shall have such a talk! I will send your tea up here.

Beenie will be good to you." "Oh, but, indeed, I can't!" sobbed Letty; "my aunt would never forgive me." "You silly child! I never meant to keep you without sending to your aunt to let her know." "She won't let me stop," persisted Letty.
"We will try her," said Mary, confidently; and, without more ado, left Letty, and, going to her desk in the shop, wrote a note to Mrs.
Wardour.

This she gave to Beenie to send by special messenger to Thornwick; after which, she told her, she must take up a nice tea to Miss Lovel in her bedroom.

Mary then resumed her place in the shop, under the frowns and side-glances of Turnbull, and the smile of her father, pleased at her reappearance from even such a short absence.
But the return, in an hour or so, of the boy-messenger, whom Beenie had taken care not to pay beforehand, destroyed the hope of a pleasant evening; for he brought a note from Mrs.Wardour, absolutely refusing to allow Letty to spend the night from home: she must return immediately, so as to get in before dark.
The rare anger flushed Letty's cheek and flashed from her eyes as she read; for, in addition to the prime annoyance, her aunt's note was addressed to her and not to Mary, to whom it did not even allude.

Mary only smiled inwardly at this, but Letty felt deeply hurt, and her displeasure with her aunt added yet a shade to the dimness of her judgment.