Page:What Maisie Knew (Chicago & New York, Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1897).djvu/77

Rh largely covering it and her pelisse gathered about her with an intensity that strained its ancient seams.

"It was to me, darling," the visitor said, "that your mamma so generously sent it; but of course, if it would give you particular pleasure—!" She faltered, only gasping her surrender.

Miss Overmore continued extremely remote. "If the photograph's your property, my dear, I shall be happy to oblige you by looking at it on some future occasion. But you must excuse me if I decline to touch any object belonging to Mrs. Wix."

Mrs. Wix, by this time, had grown very red. "You might as well see him this way, miss," she retorted, "as you certainly never will, I believe, in any other! Keep the pretty picture, by all means, my precious," she went on. "Sir Claude will be happy himself, I dare say, to give me one with a kind inscription." The pathetic quaver of this brave little boast was not lost upon Maisie, who threw herself so gratefully upon Mrs. Wix's neck that, on the termination of their embrace, the public tenderness of which, she felt, made up for the sacrifice she imposed, their companion had had time to