She ran up the broad staircase; the men followed; and finally her three trunks were safely lodged in the room she had occupied the night before, and which she looked upon as her own.
“How much is it, Mr. Marks?” she said; and when he told she paid him from her little purse, and bade him good morning.
She watched until he was well out of sight, and then she went to unlock the door of the morning-room.
CHAPTER V
ANOTHER ATTEMPT
When the Misses Flint saw the door shut behind Ladybird, and heard the key click in the lock, they could believe neither their eyes nor their ears.
Miss Priscilla rose and walked majestically to the door and turned the knob, fully expecting the door would open. But it would not open, of course, being locked, and the good lady, almost stupefied with anger and amazement, uttered an explosive and exasperated “Well!” and dropped into the nearest chair.
Miss Dorinda responded with a terrified and apprehensive “Well!” and then the two sisters sat and stared blankly at each other.
Miss Dorinda spoke first, timidly.
“Priscilla, don’t you think perhaps it is our duty to give a home to Lavinia’s child?”
“Duty!” exclaimed the elder sister, in a tense, restrained voice. “Duty! To keep such a vixen as that in our house? No! I confess I had some such thought during the night; but now I have only one desire, and that is, to get rid of her.”