Little Ann left her seat to make her father return to his.
“Father, you'd better sit down,” she said, gently pushing him in the right direction. “When you can't prove a thing's a lie, it's just as well to keep quiet until you can.” And she kept quiet herself, though she turned and stood before Palliser and spoke with clear deliberateness. “What you pretend to believe is not true, Captain Palliser. It's just not true,” she gave to him.
They were facing and looking at each other when Burrill announced Lady Joan Fayre. She entered rather quickly and looked round the room with a sweeping glance, taking them all in. She went to the duke first, and they shook hands.
“I am glad you are here!” she said.
“I would not have been out of it, my dear young lady,” he answered, “`for a farm' That's a quotation.”
“I know,” she replied, giving her hand to Miss Alicia, and taking in Palliser and the solicitors with a bow which was little more than a nod. Then she saw Little Ann, and walked over to her to shake hands.
“I am glad you are here. I rather felt you would be,” was her greeting. “I am glad to see you.”
“Whether tha 'rt glad to see me or not I'm glad I'm here,” said Hutchinson bluntly. “I've just been speaking a bit o' my mind.”
“Now, Father love!” Little Ann put her hand on his arm.
Lady Joan looked him over. Her hungry eyes were more hungry than ever. She looked like a creature in a fever and worn by it.