‘What! Are you going to believe them, too?’
‘Never!’
‘It is that which drives me beyond all patience,’ proceeded Charles, ‘to see Philip lay hold of my father, and twist him about as he chooses, and set every one down with his authority.’
‘Philip soon goes abroad,’ said Amy, who could not at the moment say anything more charitable.
‘Ay! there is the hope. My father will return to his natural state provided they don’t drive Guy, in the meantime, to do something desperate.’
‘No, they won’t,’ whispered Amy.
‘Well, give me the blotting-book. I’ll write to him this moment, and tell him we are not all the tools of Philip’s malice.’
Amy gave the materials to her brother, and then turning away, busied herself in silence as best she might, in the employment her mother had recommended her, of sorting some garden-seeds for the cottagers. After an interval, Charles said,
‘Well, Amy, what shall I say to him for you?’
There was a little silence, and presently Amy whispered, ‘I don’t think I ought.’