she thought.

It did not occur to her to examine its contents, or to suppose for a
single moment that any one had taken money out of it. She provided the
woman with a stamp, and then, shut the drawer of the till. It was now
half-past eight, and Susy determined to take the bull by the horns and
to close the shop without further ado. She sent for the little maid in
the kitchen to put up the shutters, and in a minute or two the shop was
in darkness and Susy was racing through the remainder of her lessons. It
would take her a quarter of an hour, running most of the way, to reach
the old quarry, and she must have three or four minutes to dress. She
stood up, therefore, at her work, in order, as she expressed it, to save
time. She was so occupied when her mother came in.

"Why have you shut the shop?" said Mrs. Hopkins in an annoyed voice. "It
is only a very little past half-past eight, and I saw two poor women
outside. They wanted a penn'orth of paper each. They said, 'We thought
you always kept open until nine o'clock,' Now it will spread all over
the place that I shut at half-past eight. Why did you do it, Susy? It's
hard enough to make ends meet without adding any more difficulties."

Mrs. Hopkins stood, looking very pale and perplexed, in the parlor. Susy
glanced at her mother, and could not help reflecting that the poor woman
was fit to drop.

"Do sit down, mother," she said. "I was so distracted; I have to be a
good way from here at nine o'clock, I couldn't think whatever kept you.
I was obliged to shut the shop. I am sorry."

"Well, never mind. You didn't tell me that you were going out. I wish
you wouldn't go out so much in the evening, Susy; it does make it so
hard for me. There's no one now to help me with a bit of mending, and
all your things are getting so racketed through."

"What kept you, mother?" said Susy, ignoring her mother's speech.

"Oh, it was your aunt. She's in such a taking about little Peter; she's
quite certain he's in for measles or something worse. I'm persuaded that
it's nothing but a cold. I never saw such a muddle-headed woman as your
aunt Bessie. She hadn't a thing handy in the place. I had to stay and
see the doctor, and then to fetch the medicine myself, and then put the
child to bed. I assure you I haven't sat down since I left."

"And I suppose she never thought of giving you as much as a cup of tea?"
said Susy.

"No," answered her mother; then catching sight of the teapot, she a