“Don’t get excited,” he advised her coolly. “Sit down and we’ll talk this over. You want to keep the farm for that half-brother of yours, you say. Well, I’m disposed to give it to you to do as you like with, if you——”
She gazed at him almost incredulously.
“You’ll give me time to try?” she asked breathlessly. “Oh, thank you!”
He answered her impetuous question with another. “Did you notice the person who showed you in? Yes; I see you did, particularly. Well, she’s my housekeeper. She’s been here since my—since I buried the late Mrs. Jarvis. But I—well; I’m tired of seeing the woman about. I shall need somebody to take her place, and—Stop! I want you to hear me out.”
The girl had not resumed her seat at Jarvis’s bidding. She retreated swiftly toward the door. The man’s imperious voice followed her.
“Come back! I’m not done with what I had to say!”
But Barbara had already closed the door definitely behind her. The woman in black silk stood just outside. She had, in fact, been listening.
“Well!” she breathed explosively, staring at Barbara. Then she rustled toward the front door, her ample draperies filling the narrow twilight passage with a harsh, swishing sound.
“You better not show your face here again!” she said in a low, fierce voice, as she held the door wide for Barbara to pass out.