She looked disappointed and suddenly very ill at ease.
"I thought you might be masterful," she murmured, "and find out. Perhaps you will some day, and then everything will be different. Miss Emma is the most amiable," said she, "and would not long remain a prisoner if Miss Hermione would consent to leave the house."
"Miss Emma is the younger?"
"Yes, yes, in everything."
"And the sadder!"
"I am not so sure about that, but she shows her feelings plainer, perhaps because her spirits used to be so high."
Frank now felt they had talked long enough, interesting as was the topic on which they were engaged. So turning his face towards the town, he remarked:
"I am going back to New York to-night, but I shall probably be in Marston again soon. Watch well over the young ladies, but do not think of repeating this interview unless something of great importance should occur. It would not please them if they knew you were in the habit of talking them over to me, and it is your duty to act just as they would wish you to."
"I know it, sir, but when it is for their good——"
"I understand; but let us not repeat it, Doris." And he bade her a kind but significant good-by.