"Your impudence will not avail you. I am determined to get rid of you."
"And do ye think I'm goin' to lave the house, and my ould misthress, and Master Frank, at the orders of such an interloper as you, Mr. Craven?" she cried, angrily.
"I don't propose to multiply words about it," said Mr. Craven, with an assumption of dignity. "If you had behaved well, you might have stayed. Now you must go."
"Must I?" sniffed Katy, indignantly. "Must I, indade?"
"Yes, you must, and the less fuss you make about it the better."
Mr. Craven supposed that he had the decided advantage, and that Katy, angry as she was, would eventually succumb to his authority. But he did not know the independent spirit of Catherine O'Grady, whose will was quite as resolute as his own.
"And ye think I'm goin' at your word—I that's been in the family since Master Frank was a baby?"
"I am sorry for you, Katy," said Mr. Craven, in triumphant magnanimity. "But I cannot permit a servant to remain in my house who is guilty of the gross impropriety of insulting me."
"I know why you want to get rid of me," said Katy, nodding her head vigorously.
"Why?" asked Craven, with some curiosity.