You may yet have what you are crying out for.

In the mean time--" Lucy interrupted with a wild cry.

"Oh, mother, you will take care of me, you will watch me!" "You need not be afraid, Lucy," said Mrs.Ayres, grimly and tenderly.
"I will watch you, and--" She hesitated a moment, then she continued, "If I ever catch you buying that again--" But Lucy interrupted.
"Oh, mother," she said, "this last time it was not--it really was not--_that!_ It was only something that would have made her sick a little.

It would not have--It was not _that!_" "If I ever do catch you buying that again," said Mrs.Ayres, "you will know what a whipping is." Her tone was almost whimsical, but it had a terrible emphasis.
Lucy shrank.

"I didn't put enough of _that_ in to--to do much harm," she murmured, "but I never will again." "No, you had better not," assented Mrs.Ayres.