The rare anger flushed Letty's cheek and flashed from her eyes as
she read; for, in addition to the prime annoyance, her aunt's
note was addressed to her and not to Mary, to whom it did not
even allude. Mary only smiled inwardly at this, but Letty felt
deeply hurt, and her displeasure with her aunt added yet a shade
to the dimness of her judgment. She rose at once.
"Will you not tell me first what is troubling you, Letty?" said
Mary.
"No, dear, not now," replied Letty, caring a good deal less about
the right ordering of her way than when she entered the house.
Why should she care, she said to herself--but it was her anger
speaking in her--how she behaved, when she was treated so
abominably?
"Then I will come and see you on Sunday," said Mary; "and then we
shall manage to have our talk."
They kissed and parted--Letty unaware that she had given her
friend a less warm kiss than usual. There can hardly be a plainer
proof of the lowness of our nature, until we have laid hold of
the higher nature that belongs to us by birthright, than this,
that even a just anger tends to make us unjust and unkind: Letty
was angry with every person and thing at Thornwick, and unkind to
her best friend, for whose sake in part she was angry. With
glowing cheeks, tear-filled eyes, and indignant heart she set out
on her walk home.
It was a still evening, with a great cloud rising in the
southwest; from which, as the sun drew near the horizon, a thin
veil stretched over the sky between, and a few drops came
scattering.
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