was guilty of such a meanness as many who are themselves capable of something just as bad will consider incredible.
The wise woman waited till she had finished it—then, looking into the empty cup, said:
“You might have given me back as much as you had no claim upon!”
Agnes turned away and made no answer—far less from shame than indignation.
The wise woman looked at the mother.
“You should not have offered it to her if you did not mean her to have it,” said the mother, siding with the devil in her child against the wise woman and her child too. Some foolish people think they take another’s part when they take the part he takes.
The wise woman said nothing, but fixed her eyes upon her, and soon the mother hid her face in her apron weeping. Then she turned again to Agnes, who had never looked round but sat with her back to both, and suddenly lapped her in the folds of her cloak. When the mother again lifted her eyes, she had vanished.