“I will write to them and give the reason,” said Miss Fleet.
“May I not write my own self to Ralph, please, or to—to Susie?”
“I will write to them,” said Miss Fleet gently.
Phyllis stood quite silent for a moment. Once again her shoulders worked suspiciously, and Miss Fleet noticed that her little chest heaved, but she kept back her tears.
“There’s Susie,” she said after a pause; “she would so like the baby-house, and the rocking-horse that I never ride on because I have no playmates, you know. May they be sent over to the Rectory? I promised that she should have them. Need I wait till Father comes back to keep my promise?”
“You had no right to make the promise.”
“But mayn’t they go? Please say yes.”
“Not until your father returns.”
Phyllis now stood, very calm and despairing, close to Miss Fleet.
“You want me to love you, but you make it very hard for me to do so,” she said gently. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll promise for two whole days. If Father isn’t back at the end of two whole days, my promise is at an end. I don’t give you my word, as a lady, after two whole days. That is all. I will not make any promise after that, not for anybody.”