"It was for your own good, Meg, that I was angry."
"For my own good!" repeated Meg, rather astounded at this assertion. "What do you mean, Miss Linisfarne? Did I disobey you in anyway, that you banished me from Farbis Court? Was my conduct distasteful to you, that you so reproved me? What do you mean by saying your anger was for my own good?"
Miss Linisfarne smiled under her veil at the indignation of the girl, and uttered only one word in reply. It had not the effect she anticipated.
"Dan!" she said, with much significance.
"What about Dan?" demanded Meg, in a puzzled tone.
"It was on his account I wished you to keep away from the Court."
"I don't understand!"
"No, poor child!" said Miss Linisfarne, in a pitying tone. "How can you, with your youth and innocence and provincial education, be expected to understand the baseness of man?"
"If you mean that Dan is base," replied Meg, bluntly, "I don't believe it. He is as good a man as Mr. Jarner."
"I am afraid not, Meg."