“Well, you can't now.”
“Why not?”
“Because I say not—that's enough.”
But Jeremy was gentle to-day. He got off his chair, went round to Miss Jones's chair, and, looking up at her out of his bruised eye, said in the most touching voice:
“But, please, Miss Jones, I want to. I really do.”
Then she said what he had known all the time was coming:
“I'm afraid you won't see your mother to-day, dear. She's not well. She's in bed.”
“Why? Is she ill?”
“She's tired after her journey yesterday, I expect.”
He said no more.