This over, Helen, accompanied by Grace and Harold, withdrew to the school-room, Agatha remaining with her parents.
"Well, Agatha, and how did you get on at the Grange this morning?" asked her father with some curiosity; while Mrs. Bayden, who for reasons of her own was particularly anxious that Agatha should produce a favourable impression on her aunt, looked up eagerly.
"I got on as well as possible, at least until I found Helen. Aunt Margaret kept me with her for ever so long, and she asked me to go and see her again."
"Did she? Well, perhaps she means to be kind after all," said Mr. Bayden. "What do you say, mother?"
Mrs. Bayden was knitting vigorously, and she only replied by an impatient movement. Agatha went on.
"As for Helen, I don't wonder that she annoys Aunt Margaret. She was quite rude and disagreeable to me at first. Do you like her, mother?"
"I can't say I do. Still I haven't much pity for my sister. Why did she marry at all at her time of life, and above all, why did she marry a man with a child? She ought to have considered her nephews and nieces before she took such a step."
Poor, over-anxious Mrs. Bayden, who had always looked forward to a time when her rich lonely sister would take a fancy to one, if not more, of her children, considered Helen as an interloper, and found it hard to tolerate the girl's very existence. In addition to this, quite enough about Helen's past misdeeds had been said to prejudice her in the Baydens' eyes. Under the circumstances it can scarcely be wondered at, perhaps, that her reception at the Rectory was not a very warm one. Agatha and her mother, indeed, considered that they had done all that was needed, but Mr. Bayden had some qualms of conscience with regard to the lonely young stranger within their gates.
"Poor child!" he said, as he rose from his chair preparatory to starting on his usual afternoon potter in his parish, "we must be kind to her, Agatha. I daresay she has had a rough bringing up."
"She has had every advantage with my sister," snapped Mrs. Bayden. "She was exceedingly brusque at luncheon, and she ought, at least, to have learnt better manners by this time. Our choir isn't good enough for her, indeed! I only hope that her example won't make Harold naughtier than ever."