u!--have I not told you so a hundred times?--sick with the
contempt I feel for you, and weary of your stupid tricks."

"Madeline," said Miss Wimple, "look at me! Here,--touch my face, my
dress! Do you not know me now? Do you not see that I am not your
mother, nor Josephine, nor Adelaide, but only Sally Wimple, little
Miss Wimple, of the bookstore? What harm could I do you?--how could
I offend or hurt you? Look me in the eyes, I say, and know me, and
be calm. See! this is my chamber,--this is my bed; below is the
little shop,--the Athenaeum, you remember. We are alone in the house;
there is no one to hear or see. You came to me,--did you not?--over
the long, weary road, through the darkness and the bitter cold, for
warmth and food, for rest and safety; and I have hidden you away,
and watched by you. Look around you,--look through that window; do
you not know those trees, the mulberries by the Athenaeum?--they are
bare now; but you have seen them so before, a dozen winters. Look at
this face,--look at this dress,--look at this dress!--Ah! now you
know all about it,--'little Miss Wimple,' of course; and this shall
be your home, and you are safe here."

When Miss Wimple began to speak, she stood somewhat off from the bed;
for Madeline, with a gesture full of hate, and close-set lips that
looked dangerous, had thrust her back. But as she proceeded with her
calm and clear appeal, Madeline was arrested, in the very movement
of springing from the bed, in an attitude "worth a painter's eye,"
half-sitting, half-reclining, supported by her right arm, which,
rigidly extended, was planted pillar-like in the bed,--with her left
hand tossing aside the bed-clothes,--her knees drawn up, as for the
instant of stepping out upon the floor,--her right shoulder, bare,
round, and white, thrust from the night-dress, which in the
restlessness of her distraction had burst its chaste fastenings,
bestowing a chance glimpse of a most proud and beauteous bosom,--a
glimpse but dimly caught through the thick brown meshes of her
dishevelled hair. So, now, with impatient eyes and eager lips, she
rested and listened. And when Miss Wimple said,--"I have hidden you
away and watched by you," the fierce look was softened to one of
pitiful reflection and recollection; and at the words, "Look at this
dress! Ah! now you know all about it,--'little Miss Wimple,' of
course!" she sat up and stretched forth her arms beseechingly,
and in a moment was sobbing helpl