“No,” sneered Hortense. “He ran away. He didn’t get that far.”
“Ahem! Daughters, we have no right to talk in this way—even in fun——”
“Well, I don’t care,” cried Belle, impatiently. “Whether she’s a criminal’s child or not; I don’t want her. None of us wants her. Why, then, should we have her?”
“But where will she go?” demanded Mr. Starkweather, almost desperately.
“What do we care?” cried Flossie, callously. “She can be sent back; can’t she?”
“I tell you what it is,” said Belle, getting up and speaking with determination. “We don’t want Helen Morrell here. We will not meet her at the train. We will not send any reply to this message from her. And if she has the effrontery to come here to the house after our ignoring her in this way, we’ll send her back where she came from just as soon as it can be done. What do you say, girls?”
“Fine!” from Hortense and Flossie.
But their father said “Ahem!” and still looked troubled.