Isobel answered her steadily, but her eyes were filled with shrinking fear.
"I do not wish to come with you," she said. "I do not like you at all."
Lady Delahaye raised her eyebrows. It seemed to me that in a quiet way she was becoming angry.
"Unfortunately," she said, "your liking or disliking me makes very little difference. I have no choice in the matter at all. The care of you has devolved upon me, and I must undertake it. You had better come at once."
Isobel trembled where she stood. I judged it time to intervene.
"Lady Delahaye," I said, "the duty of looking after this child is evidently a distasteful one to you. We will relieve you of it. She can remain with us."
Lady Delahaye looked at me in astonishment. Then she laughed, and it seemed to all of us that we had never heard a more unpleasant travesty of mirth.
"Indeed!" she exclaimed. "And may I ask of whom your household consists?"
"Of myself and my two friends, Mabane and Fielding. We have a most responsible housekeeper, however, who will be able to look after the child."
"Until she herself can qualify for the position, I presume," Lady Delahaye remarked drily. "What a delightful arrangement! A sort of co-operative household. Quite Arcadian, I am sure, and so truly philanthropic. You have changed a good deal during the last few years, Mr. Arnold Greatson, to be able to stand there and make such an extraordinary proposition to me."