“Why did she die?”
“She was ill.”
Michael sighed sympathetically.
“These three sisters,” his mother went on, “lived with their father, an old clergyman.”
“Was he kind to them?”
“According to his own ideas he was very kind. But the youngest sister always wanted to have her own way and one day when she was feeling very cross because her father had told her she was to go and stay with an aunt, who should come riding along a lane but——”
“That man,” interrupted Michael, greatly excited.
“A rider on horseback. And he said good morning, and she said good morning, though she had no business to.”
“Why hadn’t she?”
“Because it isn’t right for girls to speak to riders on horseback without being introduced. But the rider was very handsome and brave and after that they met very often, and then one day he said, ‘Won’t you ride away with me?’ and she rode away with him and never saw her father or her sisters or the old house any more.”