“Let us see if you parted your hair better,” he said in a different and gentler tone, and instantly the flaxen head was bent before him, and Jewel felt in her pocket for the ribbons. He had not the heart to say what he thought; namely, that her parting looked as though a saw had been substituted for a comb.
“Very well, very well,” he said kindly.
When the ribbons were at last tied, the two proceeded to the dining-room. Here an open fire of logs furnished the cheerful light that was lacking outside. The morning paper hung over the back of a chair, warming before the blaze.
Mrs. Forbes entered from the butler's pantry and looked surprised. “I didn't expect you down for half an hour yet, sir. Shall I hurry breakfast?”
“No; I'm going to take Jewel to the stable.” Mr. Evringham stopped and took a few lumps of sugar from the bowl.
“Julia, where are your rubbers?” asked the housekeeper.
“On,” said the child, lifting her foot.
“I only hope they'll stay there,” remarked her grandfather. “I think, Mrs. Forbes, you must buy shoes as I've heard that Chinamen do,—the largest they can get for the money.”
He disappeared with his happy little companion, and the housekeeper looked after them disapprovingly.
“They're both going out bareheaded,” she mused. “I'd like to bet—I would bet anything that she asked him to take her. He never even stopped to look at the paper. He's just putty in her hands, that's what he is, putty; and she's been here three days.”