"Oh, do stop chattering!" said Molly. "Here we are. Now, girls," she continued, as she ushered her companion into the room, "here's Matilda, and I think she'll do what you wish."
"It is very inconsiderate of you to force yourself upon us," said Kate; "but as you are determined to come, and as Molly is more of an angel than a human being, Cecil and I see nothing for it but to submit; but we only do it on certain conditions."
"It is very kind of you to have me," said Matilda. "I am quite willing to agree to conditions. What are they?"
"The principal one is this," said Kate, giving a quick glance at Cecil as she spoke, "that you don't eavesdrop."
Matilda's ugly face glowed under these words to a dull crimson, her little eyes flashed an angry fire, her lips twitched. She tried to return Kate's glance with a look of equal scorn, but, failing utterly, looked down, and twirled the frill of a pretty silk apron which she was wearing.
"I don't think you will eavesdrop," continued Kate, "for the simple reason that we shan't allow it."
"Besides, we have a detective in the service," continued Cecil, in a calm voice. "My brother Jimmy is a detective. You can never get over Jimmy; so don't you begin to try."
"Perhaps, under the circumstances, you'd rather not come," resumed Kate, in her mocking tone. "You see, you have forced yourself into the company of by no means congenial spirits: it is not too late to back out of it. You've only to say the word, and we shall be—I'm sure I speak for us all—so grateful to you."
"I think you are rather hard," said Molly, who quite pitied Matilda's look of confusion.