"Mrs. Denys!" she said, in accents of frozen surprise.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES
The encounter was so amazing, so utterly unlooked for, that Avery had a moment of downright consternation. The child's whole air and expression were so exactly reminiscent of her father that she almost felt as if she stood before the Vicar himself—a culprit caught in a guilty act.
She looked at Olive without words, and Olive looked straight back at her with that withering look of the righteous condemning the ungodly which so often regarded a dumb but rebellious congregation through the Vicar's stern eyes.
Piers, however, was not fashioned upon timid lines, and he stepped into the hall without the faintest sign of embarrassment.
"Hullo, little girl!" he said. "Why aren't you in bed?"
The accusing eyes turned upon him. Olive seemed to swell with indignation. "I was in bed long ago," she made answer, still in those frozen tones. "May I ask what you are doing here, Mr. Evesham?"
"I?" said Piers jauntily. "Now what do you suppose?"
"I cannot imagine," the child said.