“Silence, you miserable epicure—I am no longer your major; I have had enough of your quasi-pleasantry. If I had my will all this should be changed. But I have lost my authority; you let me talk——”
“Scream, you mean,” corrected Von Zwenken, with a quivering voice.
“And you go on just the same,” resumed Francis, pitching her voice still higher. “But I will not suffer you to take such liberties any longer; and if grandfather does not call you to order, I will myself put you out of doors, and all your delicacies with you.”
“For heaven’s sake, Francis, calm yourself,” said Von Zwenken; “remember that Jonker van Zonshoven is a witness of your unseemly conduct.”
“All the better. The Jonker chooses to become our guest, and he shall see and know into what a mean and miserable a household he has entered. I will put no blind before his eyes.”
“There is, however, a difference between trying to blind people, and tearing off the bandages from the sores in this way, Miss Mordaunt,” I replied, with emphasis.
“Possibly, Jonker; but I cannot hide my meaning in fine words. I must speak plainly. I would rather live on bread and water than be beholden to another for these luxuries.”
With this she left the room, giving me a defiant look, which I returned by a shake of the head, to signify how much I disapproved of her conduct and the intemperance of her language.
Whilst we stood staring at each other, we three gentlemen, in a state of stupefaction, she just put her head in at the door and said—
“Captain, you will attend to the housekeeping duties to-day; I am going for a ride.”