"I refuse to be an invalid any longer."
"And all yesterday you were in bed."
"Yesterday is not today, and you may consider yourself second in command again. It is time I was about the house when you and Miriam choose to spend half the night on the moor. I was left in bed with a house unlocked."
"But Jim was there."
"Jim! Although Dr. Mackenzie gave you the dog, Helen, I have not all that faith in his invincibility."
Helen smiled her appreciation of that sentence, though she did not like her stepmother's looks.
"I would rather trust Jim's teeth than our bolts and locks, and I told him to take care of you."
"That was thoughtful of you!" Mildred said. She rolled her pastry, but it did not please her, and she squeezed the dough into a ball as she turned with unusual haste to Helen.
"You must not wander about at night alone."
"But on the moor—!" Helen protested.