"Good-by, my little friend. If you live to grow up, I hope you will never be such a miserable woman as I am." She suddenly looked round at Mr. Rayburn. "Have you got a wife at home?" she asked.
"My wife is dead."
"And _you_ have a child to comfort you! Please leave me; you harden my heart. Oh, sir, don't you understand? You make me envy you!"Mr. Rayburn was silent when he and his daughter were out in the street again. Lucy, as became a dutiful child, was silent, too.
But there are limits to human endurance--and Lucy's capacity for self-control gave way at last.
"Are you thinking of the lady, papa?" she said.