"
"Of course I will," said Rosa warmly. "I'll sit for it here, any day you
like."
Now, Rosa said this, out of her ever ready kindness, not to wound
Phoebe: but having made the promise, she kept clear of the place for
some days, hoping Phoebe would forget all about it. Meantime she sent
her husband to buy.
In about a fortnight she called again, primed with evasions if she
should be asked to sit; but nothing of the kind was proposed. Phoebe was
dealing when she went in. The customers disposed of, she said to Mrs.
Staines, "Oh, ma'am, I am glad you are come. I have something I should
like to show you." She took her into the parlor, and made her sit down:
then she opened a drawer, and took out a very small substance that
looked like a tear of ground glass, and put it on the table before
her. "There, ma'am," said she, "that is all he has had for painting a
friend's picture."
"Oh! what a shame."
"His friend was going abroad--to Natal; to his uncle that farms out
there, and does very well; it is a first-rate part, if you take out a
little stock with you, and some money; so my one gave him credit, and
when the letter came with that postmark, he counted on a five-pound
note; but the letter only said he had got no money yet, but sent him
something as a keepsake: and there was this little stone.
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