e to tell Miss Lilly, now. I have some words, however. The sort of words a lady likes to say to a girl in private.''
He nods. ''I know,'' he says. He folds his arms. ''I am dying to hear them.''
She waits, but he will not leave. She comes and, again, sits beside me; again, I flinch away.
''Dear girl,'' she says. ''The fact of it is, there ain''t a pleasant way to tell it; and I ought to know, if anyone ought!—for I told it once already, to Sue. Your mother—'' She wets her lips, then looks at Richard.
''Tell her,'' he says. ''Or I will.''
So then she speaks again, more quickly. ''Your mother,'' she says, ''was took before the courts, not just for thieving, but for killing a man; and—oh, my dear, they hanged her for it!''
''Hanged?''
''A murderess, Maud,'' says Richard, with relish. ''You may see the place they hanged her, from the window of my room—''
''Gentleman, I mean it!''
He falls silent. I say again, ''Hanged!''
''Hanged game,'' says Mrs Sucksby—as if this, whatever it means, will make me bear it better. Then she studies my face. ''Dear girl, don''t think of it,'' she says. ''What does it matter now? You''re a lady, ain''t you? Who''ll trouble with where you come from? Why, look about you here.''
She has risen, and lights a lamp: a score of gaudy surfaces—the silk dressing-gown, the cloudy brass of the bedstead, china ornaments upon the mantel-shelf—start out of the darkness. She goes again to the wash-hand stand, and again she says: ''Here''s soap. What soap! Got from a shop up West. Come in a year ago—I saw it come and thought, "Now, shan''t Miss Lilly like that!" Kept it wrapped in paper, all this time. And here''s a towel, look—got a nap like a peach. And scent! Don''t care for lavender, we''ll get you one of rose. Are you looking, dear?'' She moves to the chest of drawers, pulls the deepest drawer open. ''Why, what have we here!'' Richard leans to see. I also look, in a kind of horrified wonder. ''Petticoats, and stockings, and stays! Bless me, here''s pins for a lady''s hair. Here''s rouge for a lady''s cheek. Here''s crystal drops— one pair of blue, one red. That comes of my not knowing, darling, the shade of the eyes they was to match! Well, Dainty shall have the blue pair . . .''