Meanwhile, if the shillings were not found before eleven o'clock it
would be too late to send to the town shop by the carrier. But they
were not found, and the old hooded cart rumbled away without them.
It was Christmas Eve. The boys were bustling about with holly. Darling
was perched on a very high chair in the kitchen, picking raisins in
the most honourable manner, without eating one, and Madam Liberality
ought to have been the happiest of all.
Even now she dried her tears, and made the best of her ill-luck. The
sweetmeats were very good; and it was yet in her power to please the
others, though by a sacrifice from which she had shrunk. She could
divide her scallop-shells among them. It was economy--economy of
resources--which made her hesitate. Separated--they would please the
boys once, and then be lost. Kept together in her own possession--they
would be a constant source of triumph for herself, and of treats for
her brothers and sister.
Meanwhile, she would gargle her throat with salt and water. As she
crept up-stairs with this purpose, she met her mother.
Madam Liberality had not looked in the looking-glass lately, so she
did not understand her mother's exclamation of distress when they met.
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