Going out, she stopped at the foot of the bed, and scraped away a little patch of mud that was on one of Mary's shoes.
"I always used to clean 'em for her," said Sally, "to save her hands from getting blacked.

May I take 'em off now, and clean 'em again ?" I nodded my head, for my heart was too heavy to speak.

Sally took the shoes off with a slow, awkward tenderness, and went out.
An hour or more must have passed, when, putting the glass over her lips again, I saw no mark on it.

I held it closer and closer.

I dulled it accidentally with my own breath, and cleaned it.