Resolute as the girl was, she listened trembling, till her father’s loud call of “Nettie, Nettie, come here this moment!” brought her down to the study, where were her father, her grandmother, and Jack.
“Eh, what’s all this, Nettie?” said Mr Lester. “I can’t have you running about the country with young Seyton. What’s the meaning of it?”
“Papa,” said Nettie, “I haven’t run about the country. Dick and I have got a secret; it’s a very good secret.”
“Well, what is it, then?” said her father.
“I don’t mean to tell. I never tell secrets,” said Nettie, with determination. “We have had it a long time.”
“My dear,” said Mr Lester, much more mildly than he would have spoken to any of his boys, “I must put an end to it. You have been running wild with your brothers till you forget how big a girl you are getting. Never go out with Dick again by yourself—do you hear?”
Nettie made no answer, and her father continued, more sternly,—
“I am sorry, Nettie, that you did not know better how to behave. Never let me hear of such a thing again.”
Still silence; and Jack said,—
“She won’t promise. I shall see what Dick says about it.”