“Doctor, you horrify me,” cried Aunt Sophia.—“Naomi, my child, come away.”
“No, no: nonsense!” cried Scarlett. “It’s only Jack’s joking way, auntie.”
“Joke!” cried the doctor; “nonsense. The ice was unsafe; so of course the idiots insisted upon setting the police at defiance, and went on, to drown themselves as fast as they could.”
“How dreadful!” said Prayle.
“Very, for the poor doctors,” said Scales grimly. “I nearly rubbed my arms out of the sockets.”
“Kitty, dear, you stay with Aunt Sophia, then,” said Scarlett. “We won’t be very long away.”
“Stop!” cried Aunt Sophia sternly. “Where is it you are going?”
“Up to the lock and weir,” said Scarlett. “You and Kitty can sit under the big medlar in the shade till we come back.”
“The lock and weir?” cried Aunt Sophia sharply. “That’s where the water comes running over through a lot of sticks, isn’t it?”
“Yes, aunt, that’s the place.”