Dot stopped and gave him a perfunctory kiss, then returned to Pattie.
"Pay glames and lead," she repeated. "Tome along."
Pattie looked at Mrs. Cragg.
"May I go?" she asked. "May I take care of Dot sometimes for you?"
Mrs. Cragg assented, not too graciously, and Pattie vanished, led by the fat little hands of Dot. Cragg looked at his wife.
"Well?" he said.
Mrs. Cragg tossed her head.
"Well, I just say the same, Mr. Cragg. I hold that a man's duty is to his own, and not to a pack of strangers. But if she's got to be here, she may as well be useful. If she likes to look after Dot, she's welcome; so long as she don't spoil the child worse than she's spoilt already. You've done enough that way, I hope. There's no managing her when she hears your voice. Not a child in the town is worse spoilt than Dot. And I say it's a shame."
"My dear, she's an uncommon good child. Why, Dot never cries."
"If she don't cry, she gets her own way a lot too much. You're for ever fussing about her. And if Pattie Dale is going to do the same, she'll be unbearable."