Annie Kilburn

"_Oh_!" said the old lady. "If you want to be of use, and do good--"

She stopped, as if then there were no more to be said by a sensible person.

"And shall you be going soon?" she asked. The idea seemed to suggest her

own departure, and she rose after speaking.

"Just as soon as possible," answered Miss Kilburn. Words take on a colour

of something more than their explicit meaning from the mood in which they

are spoken: Miss Kilburn had a sense of hurrying her visitor away, and the

old lady had a sense of being turned out-of-doors, that the preparations

for the homeward voyage might begin instantly.