“Then what on earth are you doing here?” The tone put the maid completely in the wrong.
Such a cynical carrying of the war into the country of the enemy was a little too much for Pikey. But she was not going to admit defeat. With a snort and a scowl she declared that she had come to fetch Elfreda and that no matter what happened it was her fixed resolve not to return to Clavering Park without her mistress.
XIII
It was now the turn of Elfreda to be taken aback.
“Pikey,” she said, “are you mad?”
The look in the eyes of the duenna rather suggested that condition. But Elfreda did not yield an inch. “Are you mad, Pikey?” she repeated sternly.
Before such hardihood the spirit of the Dragon quailed. So proper and natural would it have been for Pikey to ask the question that Elfreda by adopting the simple expedient of asking the question herself completely took the wind out of Pikey’s sails.
“Go back at once.” Elfreda was perfectly amazing. “How dare you come here.” She might have been scolding a disobedient dog. “I am quite ashamed of you, Pikey. Didn’t I say I would write to you?”
A conflict began in the faithful bosom of Pikey as an eye flashing with scorn transfixed her.
“Tell me, Pikey, didn’t I say I would write to you?”