"Ah, but not every mother is so devoted to her children as you are, my dear Arabella," Sir Richard said sarcastically.
Mrs. Compton coloured at her father's tone; but she would not allow herself to be put out of temper, and proceeded,—
"For my part I am very glad the boy's mother is where she is! It would have made things awkward if she had come home too! Richard wanted you to have the boy here, did he not? Of course that would not have done!"
"Why not?" Sir Richard asked bluntly. Then, without waiting for a reply, he said— "It would have done excellently well, as it happens. I regret exceedingly I did not accede to my son's suggestion. Had I known Dick was the sort of boy he is I should certainly have had him here."
Mrs. Compton was too astonished to speak for several minutes. During the last ten years, obeying her father's command, she had held no communication with her brother. When the arbitrary old man had declared that never, as long as he lived, would he forgive his son for making what he considered an imprudent marriage, she had held her tongue, and though she had not openly quarrelled with her brother, she had tacitly sided with her father against him.
"And what sort of boy is he?" she asked presently.
"You will soon be in a position to judge for yourself," Sir Richard told her. "When he is spoken to he holds his head up and looks one in the face; he does not drop his eyes like Lionel there!"
Lionel grew very red at this unprovoked attack, and gave Ruth a kick under the table as a relief to his feelings, which made her jump violently, whereupon her grandfather asked what was the matter.
"Nothing—nothing!" she answered, not daring to tell the truth for fear of the consequences.
"If the children have finished their breakfasts, can they not go?" Mrs. Compton interposed.