“Do you know Mrs. Layton, the vicar’s wife?” now inquired John Temple, remembering the character she had given Miss Churchill.
“Oh, yes, and she’s such a spiteful old woman!”
“She’s an awful old woman, I think. She bored me to death last night when she dined at the Hall.”
“Did she mention me?” now asked the Mayflower, with a glance of fun in her dark blue eyes.
“Well, to tell the truth, she did,” answered John Temple.
“And she abused me, of course?”
“That was impossible.”
“Oh, but I know she did if she mentioned me. I am one of her pet aversions. She says all sorts of hard things about me, and because they call me May at home she always addresses me as ‘Miss Margaret,’ as she thinks it is an ugly name, and I hate it.”
“The vicar told me they called you the Mayflower,” said John, looking earnestly at the girl’s lovely face.
“Oh! that is a foolish name,” she answered, with a blush and a smile rippling over her rosy lips.