"Run away from school?" asked the old gentleman in an icy voice.
Meg nodded.
There was an awful pause.
"Why have you run away?"
"Because," said Meg, "they despise me—they say I shame the school. That's why I've run away."
"You say you have not lost your way," replied the old gentleman, taking no heed of her answer. "Where were you going to?"
"To London."
"To London!" repeated her interlocutor. "What would you have done there?"
"I would have gone to Mrs. Browne. I would have asked my way until I found her house."
There came a pause, during which the old gentleman looked at her and muttered himself.