‘Father,’ cried Bella, desperately, ‘you needn’t waste your money upon that advertisement. I won’t take another situation.’
‘Won’t you?’ cried Mr. Scratchell. ‘Then I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the workhouse, which would be rather disgraceful at your age. I won’t keep you in idleness.’
‘I’d sooner marry Mr. Piper than go on teaching odious children.’
‘You’ll have to wait till Mr. Piper asks you again,’ replied her father, delighted at having gained his point, but too diplomatic to show his satisfaction. ‘You’ve refused him once. He may not care to humiliate himself by risking a second refusal. However, the advertisement can stand over for a day or two, since you’ve come to your senses.’
Mr. Scratchell went off to his official den presently, and Mrs. Scratchell came over to Bella and hugged her.
‘Oh, my darling, it would be the making of us all,’ she exclaimed.
‘I don’t see what good that would be to me, mother, if I was miserable,’ Bella responded, sulkily.
‘But you couldn’t be miserable in such a home as Yafford Park, and with such a good man as Mr. Piper. It isn’t as if you had ever cared for anybody else, dear.’
‘No, of course not,’ said Bella, full of bitterness. ‘That makes a difference.’
‘And think what a lady you would be, and how high you could hold your head.’