BACKBITING. 
425 
“ And you really and truly would like to 
have me stay?” 
“ Of course, or I should not say so.” 
“ I don’t suppose you would,” said Antoin¬ 
ette. “You are not like some people,” 
she concluded, abruptly, as though saying 
something different from what she had at 
first intended. “Like Matilda and me, 
Tor instance,” she added, after a moment’s 
pause. 
“I’ll tell you what it is, Antoinette,” said 
Annie: “I wouldn’t talk about Matilda’s 
faults if I were you. They are not my 
business, at least; and it does not sound well 
for sisters to discuss each other’s failings. 
You think I did not like you when you first 
came, and that is true; and the first thing 
that*prejudiced me against you was your 
telling, that first evening, how cross Matilda 
was when she was sick, and how she made 
herself so eating confectionary though your 
mother had forbidden her to buy it.” 
“Well,” said Antoinette, after a little 
pause, “ I believe you are right, and I won’t 
say any thing about her, but only about my¬ 
self.” She coloured, as she added, with 
what seemed a painful effort, “When I 
