"Kindly leave your father out of the conversation," snapped the old lady severely.
"Then it's all I will LAVE him out of!" cried Peg, springing up and confronting the stately lady of the house.
Mrs. Chichester regarded her in astonishment and anger.
"No TEMPER, if you please," and she motioned Peg to resume her seat.
Poor Peg sat down, breathing hard, her fingers locking and unlocking, her staunch little heart aching for the one human being she was told not to refer to.
This house was not going to hold her a prisoner if her father's name was to be slighted or ignored; on that point she was determined. Back to America she would go if her father's name was ever insulted before her. Mrs. Chichester's voice broke the silence:
"You must take my daughter as your model in all things."
Peg looked at Ethel and all her anger vanished temporarily. The idea of taking that young lady as a model appealed to her as being irresistibly amusing. She smiled broadly at Ethel. Mrs. Chichester went on:
"Everything my daughter does you must try and imitate. You could not have a better example. Mould yourself on her."
"Imitate her, is it?" asked Peg innocently with a twinkle in her eye and the suggestion of impishness in her manner.