“You would demean yourself to follow,” said Evelyn.
“Confess your sin, Evelyn, and do not scold Read,” interrupted Lady Frances.
“I have nothing to confess, Aunt Frances.”
“But you did it?”
“Certainly I did it.”
“You dared to go to meet a woman privately, clandestinely, whom I, your aunt, prohibited the house?”
“I dared to go to meet the woman my mother loved,” replied Evelyn, “and I am not a bit ashamed of it; and if I had the chance I would do it again.”
“You are a very, very naughty girl. I am more than angry with you. I am pained beyond words. What is to become of you I know not. You are a bad girl; I cannot bear to think that you should be in the same house with Audrey.”
“Loving the woman whom my mother loved does not make me a bad girl,” replied Evelyn. “But as you do not like to have me in the room, Aunt Frances, I will go away—I will go up-stairs. I think you are very, very unkind to me; I think you have been so from the first.”
“Do not dare to say another word to me, miss; go away immediately.”