Mr. Stirling put up one hand with a dignified gesture.
"Will you please allow your mother to speak for herself. Can you give me a few minutes in another room, Mrs. Morris?"
"There!" Winnie said with a sigh, as they disappeared. She went to the stiff old-fashioned sofa, from which she was seldom long absent. "Now you have driven him off!"
"Rubbish!" shortly answered Jane. "He and mother always have a business talk."
"What made you say that about the climate,—and about my going to the sea? It was like asking him to send me."
"Well, why shouldn't he? I wish he'd send you and me together. Anything to get away from this hole."
"We have no right to expect him to do things for us."
"I think we have. Mother saved Miss Stirling's life by her nursing. And everybody says he just lives for Miss Stirling."
"All those years and years ago!"
"That makes no difference. If it wasn't for mother he'd have no niece now. I think he ought to be grateful; and I don't see that he can do too much in return. He might just as well send you and me to Brighton for a month."