"Don't talk about 'sense'! Eleanor never had any. I've telegraphed your mother to come. I wonder how Bingo is? She understands her. The ashman has broken my new ash barrel; I don't know what this country is comin' to!"
Then she went upstairs to try to understand Eleanor herself. "Eleanor, what happened?"
"Nothing. I'm going home this afternoon."
"Indeed you are not! You're not goin' out of this house till Maurice comes and gets you! What happened?" she demanded again.
"I fell. Into some water."
"How could you 'fall'? And what 'water'?"
"I had gone out to the river—up in Medfield. To—take a walk; and I ... slipped...."
"Now, Eleanor, look here; if I have a virtue, it's candor, and I'll tell you why; it saves time. That's what my dear father used to say: 'Lyin' wastes time.' I know what you tried to do; and it was very wicked."
"But I didn't do it!"
"You tried to. If you and Maurice have quarreled, I'll stand by you."