In absolute silence Jane-Anne did as she was bid. It took a long time to clean Mr. Wycherly's study. There seemed a great deal of "Magnolia Bloom" for eighteenpence when she had finished. She emptied the dustpan into the dustbin, then she went and fetched The Peeress. Mrs. Dew had gone out to get something extra for dinner, as the gentleman was going to stay, so Jane-Anne had the kitchen to herself. She tore The Peeress across and across and thrust it down into the hottest part of the fire, putting more coal on the top of it lest her aunt should see it and wonder.
"There," said Jane-Anne, poking viciously. "You're a horrid, meretricious, lying old thing, that you are."
CHAPTER XVI
THE PURSUIT CONTINUED
"For beauty draws us by a single hair." POPE.
Jane-Anne waited at dinner that night, and the stranger with the dark, vivacious eyes looked at her curiously more than once. When she had set the port in front of Mr. Wycherly and left the room finally, this guest, whom he called "Curly," leant forward, saying:
"So that is the new ward?"
"If you like to call her so."
"She is not an ordinary girl."
"I fear not."