"I thought you might have listened to reason," replied Mr. Plunkett, coldly, "but since you chose to behave like an infant, you shall be treated like an infant. I have the money and I shall keep it. If there is any over when your shirts have been paid for, it shall be returned to you."
"I will have it all," said Murtagh. "I don't care so much about the money, but you have no right to keep it when it's my own that papa gave me."
Mr. Plunkett left the room without making any answer. But Winnie's indignation now burst beyond all bounds, and dashing to the door she called after him: "He shall have every penny of it. If you steal it, I'll steal some of yours. So there, now. You have fair warning."
Nessa happened to be coming down the passage just at that moment, and she overheard the speech.
"What is the matter?" she asked, looking round at the angry faces.
"Oh, it's too bad," said Winnie; "he's going to steal Murtagh's half-sovereign. He's always perfectly delighted to get a chance of plaguing us, and he thinks just because he's the strongest that he'll conquer this time, but he shan't."
"What do you mean?" said Nessa. "Steal Murtagh's half-sovereign!"
"He says he won't give it to him," replied Winnie. "He's going to keep it to pay for the shirts we gave Theresa, and it was my plan about cutting them up, and I took them out of the drawer. He has no right to take Murtagh's money to pay for what I did."
"And now we can't have anything," said Rosie, "and we've asked all the children. What shall we do? We can't tell them not to come."
Murtagh was too angry to speak a word.