"I don't want to," gasped Gracie.
"I shall not punish you," her father said, "unless I find you disobedient or still unrepentant."
"Darling, go!" Avery urged softly into her ear. "It'll be all right now."
But Gracie, shaking from head to foot and scarcely able to stand, only clung to her the faster, and in a moment she began agitatedly to cry.
Mr. Lorimer's hand fell to his side. "Still unrepentant, I fear," he said.
Avery, with the child gathered closely to her, looked across at him with wide, accusing eyes.
"She is frightened and upset," she said. "It is not fair to judge her in this condition."
Mr. Lorimer's eyes gleamed back malignantly. He made her an icy bow. "In that case, Mrs. Denys," he said, "she had better go to bed and stay there until her condition has improved."
Avery compressed her lips tightly, and made no rejoinder.
The Reverend Stephen compressed his, and after a definite pause of most unpleasant tension, he uttered a deep sigh and withdrew.