"Why couldn't she stay as governess to Florence?"
"According to her father's will Florence is to pass the next four years in the family of his sister, and she—that's her aunt—has a governess for her own children that'll do for Florence, too. So there wasn't no need of Miss Thorne staying here any longer. Your father asked her to stay a while, till she could find another place. It's my belief she didn't try, being bent on staying here as the mistress. At any rate, she told your father she couldn't get a place, and he offered her the one she wanted, that of his wife."
"How do you like her, Margaret?" asked Jasper, thoughtfully.
"Me like her! That's what I never did. She's like a cat—soft-spoken enough when she has her own way, but she's got claws, and you may depend she'll show 'em. I hope she won't do anything to harm you, Master Jasper."
"Me!" said Jasper, with the bold confidence of a boy, laughing at the thought. "What can Mrs. Kent—a woman—do to injure me? I'll risk that, Margaret. It's of my father I'm thinking. Will she treat him well?"
"I think she will, for it's her object to, Master Jasper. She's married him for money, you know."
"I don't mind her benefiting by my father's property, if she will make him comfortable during his life."
"I think she will; she's too sly, and knows her own interest too well not to."
"I'm glad you think that, Margaret. I shall feel better about it."