For a moment Miss Roberta did not answer, but her face grew pale, and she threw herself back in the chair in which she was sitting. "Never in my life," she said, "have I been subjected to such mortification! Of course I wished him to come, but to come of his own accord, and not at my bidding. How do you suppose I would have felt if he had presented himself, and asked me what I wished to say to him? It is an insult you have offered me."
"It is not an insult," said Keswick quietly. "It was a service of—of affection. I saw that you were annoyed and troubled by Mr Croft's failure to keep his engagement, and what I did was simply—"
"Stop!" said Roberta peremptorily. "I do not wish to talk of it any more."
Junius stood before her a moment in silence, and then he said: "Will you tell me if my Aunt Keswick is ill or dead, and why did Mr Brandon go there?"
"She is neither;" answered Roberta, "and he went there on business." And with this she arose and left the room.
Peggy, who had been in the hall, now made a bolt down the back stairs into the basement regions, where was situated the kitchen. In this spacious apartment she found Aunt Judy, the cook, sitting before a large wood fire, and holding in her hand a long iron ladle. There was nothing near her which she could dip or stir with a ladle, and it was probably retained during her period of leisure as a symbol of her position and authority.
Peggy squatted on her heels, close to Aunt Judy's side, and thus addressed her: "Aun' Judy, ef I tell you sumfin', soul an' honor, hope o' glory, you'll neber tell?"
"Hope o' glory, neber!" said Aunt Judy, turning a look of interest on the girl.
"Well, den, look h'yar. You know Miss Rob she got two beaux; one is
Mahs' Junius, an' de udder is de gemman wid de speckle trousers from de
Norf."
"Yes, I know dat," said Aunt Judy. "Has dey fit?"