“Now listen,” said Patience. “I have talked to that poor child. In his heart of hearts he doesn’t really love Harriet. She would be a cruel and dreadful girl to leave him with. Didn’t you watch her to-night, and didn’t you see how she was forcing him to do something, and how he was refusing, and how she was making him do it in the end? and didn’t you notice the way he hugged Robina? Oh! it’s Robina he loves in his heart of hearts: he doesn’t care for Harriet, but she has got the poor little darling into her power, and he is such a brave pet, and is so impressed by his sense of gratitude to her, he will do anything for her. Now, girls, we have a great deal to do between now and eleven o’clock to-morrow morning. We have to get our evidence together.”
“Oh what, Patience, what?” asked Rose: while the others clustered round her.
“Let me see,” said Patience. “You, of course, Frederica, and you three Amberley girls will help me. There are five of us in all. Robina must not lose this chance: Harriet must not get the victory. The person to approach on the subject is Jane Bush.”
Book Two—Chapter Fifteen.
Anxious Times.
The other girls started when Patience delivered herself of this last remark.
“Jane Bush?” they said, looking at one another as though they thought Patience Chetwold—Patience, the most down-right, matter-of-fact, sensible girl on earth—had suddenly taken leave of her senses. “What do you mean, Patience?” they said, almost in chorus. “What can poor Jane have to do with it?”
“Anyone can see,” remarked Rose, “that Jane is terribly afraid of Harriet, but she herself, poor little thing, has done nothing.”