[CHAPTER XVIII.]
THE FAIRY GODMOTHER.
Elizabeth went upstairs at a run, and found Patty and Eleanor trying to make Mrs. Duff-Scott understand who Paul Brion was, what his father was, and his profession, and his character; how he had never been inside their doors until that afternoon, and how he had at last by mere accident come to be admitted and entertained. And Mrs. Duff-Scott, serene but imperious, was delivering some of her point-blank opinions upon the subject.
"Don't encourage him, my dears—don't encourage him to come again," she was saying as Elizabeth entered the room. "He and his father are two very different people, whatever they may think."
"We cannot help being grateful to him," said Patty sturdily. "He has done so much for us."
"Dear child, that's nonsense. Girls can't be grateful to young men—don't you see? It is out of the question. And now you have got me to do things for you."
"But he helped us when we had no one else."
"Yes, that's all right, of course. No doubt it was a pleasure to him—a privilege—for him to be grateful for rather than you. But—well, Elizabeth knows what I mean"—turning an expressive glance towards the discreet elder sister. Patty's eyes went in the same direction, and Elizabeth answered both of them at once.
"You must not ask us to give up Paul Brion," she said, promptly.
"I don't," said Mrs. Duff-Scott. "I only ask you to keep him in his place. He is not the kind of person to indulge with tea and music, you know—that is what I mean."