“Mamma, will you please go away for a few minutes? I’ve—I’ve got to speak to Dorothy—alone.”
“Why, certainly, dearest, if you think you’re strong enough. But wouldn’t you better wait another day? Wouldn’t I be able to talk for you?”
“No, no. Oh! no, no. Nobody but I can—Please go—go quick!”
“‘Stand not upon the order of your going but go at once!’” quoted Lady Jane, jestingly.
But she failed to make her daughter smile and went away, warning:
“Don’t talk of that accident again to-night, girls.”
“That’s exactly what I must talk about, Mamma, but you mustn’t care.”
Lady Jane’s heart was anxious as she closed the door behind her and she would have been amazed had she heard Gwendolyn’s exclamation:
“I’ve been a wicked girl! Oh, Dorothy! I’ve been so mean to you! And all the time you show me kindness. Are you trying to ‘heap coals’ on my head?”