For a moment I feared I'd been a little too prompt. But she went on——
"And next there's Henry; and the children—who have more than once made faces at me; and Phipson."
"Phipson's in it too?"
"You know her?"
"Don't I?" It surprised me a trifle to find that Phipson was a female.
"Three times to-night she pulled my hair, and the rice she brought me—look at it! all stuck together and sodden."
"Phipson shall pay for it with her blood."
"My hero—my darling! Don't spare Phipson. She screams bitterly if a pin is stuck into her. I did it once. Stick her all over with pins."
By this I'd begun to guess what was pretty near the truth—that I was talking with a mad aunt of the family below, and that the game was in my hands if I played it with decent care. So I brought her to face the important question.
"Look here," I said, "all this shall be done when you are out of their hands. At present I'm running a considerable risk in braving these persecutors of yourn. Dearest madam, the ladder's outside and the carriage waiting. Hadn't we better elope at once?"