"Please, go away!" said she to Osborne, who was standing behind her
ready to turn over. "I can quite well do it for myself. And oh! if
you would but talk!"
Osborne remained where he was in spite of her appeal, and gave
her what little approval she got; for Mrs. Gibson, exhausted by
her previous labour of counting her stitches, fell asleep in her
comfortable sofa-corner near the fire; and Roger, who began at first
to talk a little in compliance with Molly's request, found his
conversation with Cynthia so agreeable, that Molly lost her place
several times in trying to catch a sudden glimpse of Cynthia sitting
at her work, and Roger by her, intent on catching her low replies to
what he was saying.
"There, now I've done!" said Molly, standing up quickly as soon as
she had finished the eighteen dreary pages; "and I think I will never
sit down to play again!"
Osborne laughed at her vehemence. Cynthia began to take some part
in what was being said, and thus made the conversation general. Mrs.
Gibson wakened up gracefully, as was her way of doing all things, and
slid into the subjects they were talking about so easily, that she
almost succeeded in making them believe she had never been asleep at
all.