“I want to know something now, Mr. Bradfield, please.”
“Well, what is it?”
“Whether my mother has told you I’m going to be a hospital nurse?”
“A what?”
“A nurse at one of the London hospitals.”
“What on earth do you want to do that for?”
She hesitated a little before replying, in some embarrassment:
“Well, you see, in spite of all your kindness, it is rather a difficult position for me here, isn’t it? Or rather, it isn’t any position at all. I’m not a servant, and I’m not a visitor, and I’m not a daughter of the house, but I’m treated as all three——”
“Who treats you as a servant?” interrupted Mr. Bradfield, angrily. “At least, you needn’t tell me. Of course it’s my pretentious old porpoise of a cousin! I’ll give her a talking-to she won’t forget in a hurry! But why do you trouble your head about the maunderings of a snob?”