"Nonsense!" he said impatiently. "Aldyth is a good girl; she will do what I wish. You tell her what I say—do you hear?"
"I hear, certainly," said Miss Lorraine, greatly annoyed, "but I think you had better speak to her about it yourself."
"You refuse to do so?"
Miss Lorraine hesitated.
"I would rather not," she said; "but if you insist upon it, I will."
"Very well, then; I do insist upon it. Now I shall see whether Aldyth really cares to please me. There has been talk about her at Woodham which has displeased me. I wish to put it down."
"Oh, Tabitha Rudkin!" inwardly groaned Miss Lorraine.
Stephen Lorraine said little more to his niece as they sat together. Presently he took up his newspaper, and nodded a little behind it, though he would have scouted the idea of sleeping in the afternoon.
She sat knitting diligently, but stealing many a glance the while at the clock on the mantelpiece. She hated the disagreeable task imposed on her. What would Aldyth say? At last the long, dull afternoon wore to its close, and she heard Aldyth's happy voice as she dismounted at the front door.