'Well, mother?' Ethel answered in a tone of weary defiance.
Leonora still sat at the supper-table, awaiting John, who was out at a meeting; Ethel stood leaning against the mantelpiece like a boy.
'How often have you been seeing Fred Ryley lately?' Leonora began with a gentle, pacific inquiry.
'I see him every day at the works, mother.'
'I don't mean at the works; you know that, Ethel.'
'I suppose Rose has been telling you things.'
'Rose told me quite innocently that she happened to see Fred in the field to-night.'
'Oh, yes!' Ethel sneered with cold irony. 'I know Rose's innocence!'
'My dear girl,' Leonora tried to reason with her. 'Why will you talk like that? You know you promised your father——'
'No, I didn't, ma,' Ethel interrupted her sharply. 'Milly did; I never promised father anything.'