“Hardly.”
“You were not alone?”
“No. We went for ferns. Jennie Ryder and the rest.”
“Miss Ryder has been back this hour. She and her mother went away with the very first—with Mr. Fairlie.”
“Oh,” indifferently.
“Well, what were you doing?”
“I won’t be questioned, there!”
“You are sure you were not in mischief?”
No answer to this, and a long silence.
“Well, Miss Obstinacy,” he began at length, “I really am afraid something has occurred to ruffle your temper.”