"See what Titters has done to me, mother!" he exclaimed as he entered the drawing-room.
"What a nasty scratch!" Mrs. Marsh said. "But you should not have teased the poor creature, Edgar."
"I was not teasing her, mother."
"Now, my dear, I know better than that. How can you tell me such a naughty story? I do wish you would learn to speak the truth. You are always teasing Titters—I suppose that's only natural as you're a boy—so you need not pretend you were not doing so just now."
Edgar did not argue the point, but he regarded his mother with an injured air which only made her laugh. He was annoyed that she did not believe him, forgetful that not long before he had told her an untruth about his boots, and that not without cause had he gained the reputation of a perverter of the truth.
[CHAPTER IV]
COUSIN BECKY'S ARRIVAL AT BEAWORTHY
"Isn't it nearly time for you to start, father?" asked Polly, turning from the window out of which, with her face pressed close to the glass, she had been watching the falling snow, and glancing at Mr. Trent, who, during the half-hour which had elapsed since the family had arisen from the tea-table, had been quietly reading the newspaper.
"Very nearly, my dear," he answered, raising his eyes to the clock on the mantelpiece, and then fixing them on his newspaper again.
"I believe the clock's rather slow, father, and it will take you quite quarter of an hour walking to the station. It's half-past six."