'Cherry said they thought she was ashamed to begin,' said Robina. 'Miss Pearson wrote severely at first, and now wants very much to make a beginning, and to be sure that Alice is not in distress.'
'I think it ought to be done,' said John; 'it is so near, that you can walk there at once with Robina, and at least inquire at the door. I do not see how you can refuse Miss Pearson.'
Nobody had spoken to Wilmet with authority since her fifteenth year, and she did not recognise the sound.
'I do not choose to notice a person who has behaved like that,' she said; 'Miss Pearson has no right to ask it. Take off your things, Robina; I am going to pack for to-morrow.'
There was no temper in her tone, only the calm reasonable determination that had governed her household and ruled her scholars; and she walked into the other room and shut the door, as on a concluded affair.
John looked round. Robina was standing by the table, wiping away a few tears.
'I do not know what to do, John,' she said 'I wrote to Cherry that we were coming here, and would do this. May I have Zadok to walk with me?'
'Your sister is quite right,' said John. 'I am the fit person to go. How far did you say it was?'
'Eight doors, I counted.'
'Then we need not get a cabriolet,' said John, reaching for his hat and stick.