“I will, ma’am,” said the girl, getting into bed and lying down on the side next to the wall and squeezing herself against it to take up as little room as possible, “and indeed, ma’am, since it displeases you, I will try to remember—never—to call—you ma’am—again.”
The last word was scarcely audible, for as soon as Judy’s head dropped on the pillow her eyes closed and she fell fast asleep.
Palma returned to the parlor, drew the easy-chair to the fire, and seated herself to wait for Stuart.
He came in at length and dropped himself into the larger easy-chair by Palma’s side.
“Judy is fast asleep. She dropped asleep first in this chair here, and afterward, when I got her to bed, she fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow,” Palma told him with a smile.
“And you?” inquired Stuart.
“Oh! I am not at all sleepy. I feel too much elated by the arrival of all these people. I wonder what Mrs. Pole will think when she finds out that we have a visitor staying with us?”
“Doesn’t she know, Palma?”
“Why, no, Cleve. She went to bed before the colonel left us, and how could she know that the girl remained behind? And I wonder what she will say?”
“Well, Palma, I think she will disapprove.”