“Are we going shopping?” I asked.
“Yes; I am going to take you shopping to-day. You will want your school outfit.”
I felt myself turning first red and then pale.
“Oh, but, please—” I began.
She stopped helping herself to marmalade and looked at me. She and I were alone; the Professor and the boys were all at the college.
“But?” she said. “What is it, dear?”
“I don’t want to go.”
“I am sorry, but we have very little time to lose. I have ordered the carriage to be here at ten o’clock.”
“But—” I said, faltering somewhat in my speech, for her manner was beginning to tell on me. I was struggling and struggling against it, but struggling as the swimmer does who knows that time and tide are against him.
“Yes?” she said.