"Your only other is the grey voile."
"Well, it would do well enough," impatiently. "It's in rags, but it will do. You ought to be flattered, as it was your present."
"But it really is rather the worse for wear, Leo; and the white silk——"
Leo ran out of the room, and presently she was seen tearing down the avenue at breakneck speed, and did not look round, though hailed loudly from the terrace, as she swept out of sight.
"So tiresome!" exclaimed Maud, joining her eldest sister within; "I had been hunting everywhere for Leo; she promised to show Harrison the new way of doing the hair, and Harrison is ready now. It was Leo herself who said it would suit me."
"She must have forgotten," said Sue; "but I daresay she has only gone for a little run, and will be back directly. You know she often does run out in the twilight."
"It was very inconsiderate, I think. She had the whole afternoon to go out in, and then to take the only time when she could have been of use!"
Sue was silent, feeling both for the offender and the offended. Maud certainly had a grievance, for Leo's good offices had been volunteered not besought, and further Leo was aware that Harrison, good soul, was a despot of the worst type.
All the Boldero servants were despots—all the heads of departments at least; they had the strength of long-continued, undisputed rule—and Harrison, who had begun by being a little schoolroom maid, taken on the recommendation of the late vicar, while yet Sue was young and her sisters children, now governed them with a rod of iron. It was only in consideration of Maud's present attitude that the present concession regarding her hair had been made, and it was felt to be so magnanimous that she was positively aghast at Leo's delinquency.
"It is only six o'clock now," adventured Sue, soothingly. "Could you not——?"