"You really must come to our Harvest Home, Miss Ankers," she babbled; "what with Henry's taste and my money, it will be wonderfully gay and bright and artistic. Everyone will help to reap the corn, and in the evening we will have a ball, at which Henry will play old English tunes, to which we shall dance. You must come. I shall take no refusal."
"How can I?" asked Dora tartly, "seeing that your niece whom you have treated so badly, is stopping with me."
Mrs. Vand drew up her stout figure with great dignity. "That Bella Huxham left her home and my guardianship is purely her own fault," she replied. "I promised to look after her, at poor Jabez's request. But she chose to behave in a way of which I did not approve, and to engage herself to a man, who is not the husband I should have picked for her."
"Bella has every right to choose a husband for herself," retorted Miss Ankers.
"Girls are not clever enough to choose the right man. And Mr. Lister——"
"You know nothing about him, Mrs. Vand."
"That is exactly what I complain of," said the other woman triumphantly, "he may be a rogue and a scamp."
"He may be, but he is not. Mr. Lister is a gentleman."
"That doesn't prevent his being a bad character."
"Well," said Dora, rising to terminate the visit, "I don't care about discussing my friends."