The breakfast bell had rung twice while Guy was holding that interview with Agnes, and at last Mrs. Noah came up herself to learn the cause of the delay; standing in the hall she heard a part of what was transpiring in the parlor. Mrs. Noah was proud and jealous of her master’s dignity, and once or twice the thought had crossed her mind that perhaps when he came home, Maddy would be treated more as some governesses were treated by their employers, but to have Agnes take the matter up was quite a different thing, and Mrs. Noah smiled with grim satisfaction as she heard Guy issuing orders as to how Miss Clyde should be treated. Standing back to let Agnes pass, she waited a moment, and then, as if she had just come up, presented herself before Guy, asking if he were ready for breakfast.
“Yes, call Miss Clyde; tell her I sent for her,” was Guy’s answer, and Mrs. Noah repaired to Maddy’s room, finding her still sobbing bitterly.
“I cannot go down,” she said; “my face is all stains, and it’s so dreadful, happening on Sunday, too. What would grandpa say?”
“You can wash off the stains. Come,” Mrs. Noah said, pouring water into the bowl, and bidding Maddy hurry, “as Mr. Guy was waiting breakfast for her.”
“But I am not to eat with them,” Maddy began, when Mrs. Noah stopped her by explaining that Guy ruled that house, and Agnes had been completely routed.
This did not quiet Maddy particularly, and her heart beat painfully as she descended to the parlor, where Guy was walking up and down.
“Come, Miss Clyde, Jessie is nearly famished,” he said, pleasantly, as Maddy appeared, and without the slightest reference to what had passed he drew Maddy’s arm within his own, and giving a hand to Jessie, who had just come in, he went to the breakfast room, where Maddy was told to preside, as Mrs. Remington had a headache.
Guy watched her closely without seeming to do so, mentally deciding that she was neither vulgar nor awkward. On the contrary, he thought her very pretty, and very graceful, for one so unaccustomed to society. Nothing was said to Agnes, who kept her room the entire day, and did not join the family until evening, when Guy sat upon the piazza with Jessie in his lap, while Maddy was not very far away. At first there was much constraint between Agnes and Maddy, but with Guy to manage, it soon wore away, and Agnes felt herself exceedingly amiable when she reflected how gracious she had been to the young girl.
But Maddy could not so soon forget. All through the day the conviction had been settling upon her that she could not stay at Aikenside, and on the following morning, just after breakfast was over, she summoned courage to ask Mr. Guy if she might talk with him. Leading the way to his library, he bade her sit down, while he took the chair opposite, and then waited for her to commence.
Maddy was afraid of Guy. He did not seem like Dr. Holbrook. He was haughtier in his manner, while his rather elaborate style of dress, and polished manners, gave him, in her estimation, a kind of superiority over all the men she had ever met. Besides that, she remembered how his dark eyes had flashed when she told him what she did the previous day, and also that she had said to his face that she hated him. She could not bear to leave a bad impression on his mind, so the first words she said to him were: