"Hortense, run as quickly as possible down to Dr. Fisher's office, and tell him to come home."
"Thomas should be sent," said Hortense, with a toss of her head. "It's not de work for me. Beside I am Madame's maid."
"Do you go at once," commanded Mrs. Whitney, with a light in her blue eyes that the maid never remembered seeing. She was even guilty of stamping her pretty foot in the exigency, and Hortense slowly gathered herself up.
"I will go, Madame," with the air of conferring a great favor, "only I do not such t'ings again."
XVII
PHRONSIE IS FOUND
"I am glad that you agree with me." Mrs. Chatterton bestowed a complacent smile upon the company.
"But we don't in the least agree with you," said Madame Dyce, her stiff brocade rustling impatiently in the effort to put her declaration before the others, "not in the least."
"Ah? Well, you must allow that I have good opportunities to judge. The Pepper entanglement can be explained only by saying that my cousin's mental faculties are impaired."
"The rest of the family are afflicted in the same way, aren't they?" remarked Hamilton Dyce nonchalantly.