"How would you like it, sis?" Jane heard him ask pointedly, as the two men were putting on their coats in the front hall.
"How do I like it, you mean, Jack. Well, I only hope you'll find me alive to-night," Mrs. Belknap had replied. Then she came out airily to the kitchen, where Jane was awkwardly gathering the breakfast things preparatory to washing them.
"Now, Jane," said Mrs. Belknap, producing a leather-covered account book, with a pretty air of importance, "I must have a little talk with you. What is your full name, please?"
"Jane Evelyn Aubrey-Blythe," replied Jane distinctly. "My nobleness obliges me to be truthful and polite," she thought.
Mrs. Belknap was surveying her with an incredulous smile. "Not really?" she said. "You found that name in a novel, didn't you?"
"No, madam," said Jane coldly, "that is my full name."
"Where did you work before you came to me?" went on Mrs. Belknap, with a pause of her busy pencil.
Jane hesitated.
Mrs. Belknap's clear eyes demanded instant answer, somewhat after the manner of a magistrate conducting a legal examination. Master Belknap, who was leaning upon his mother's knee in a complacently postprandial state, also centered his direct gaze upon the girl's face.
"I—worked, that is, I was last employed by a—Mrs. Markle or—Madam Melbrun," faltered Jane, loudly clashing the cups in her confusion.