Miss Keating did not answer.
"I see. So you don't like me any more?"
"We won't put it that way."
Kitty came and stood beside Miss Keating and looked down at her.
"Bunny, have I been a brute to you?"
"No."
"Have I ever been a brute to any one? Have you ever known me do an unkind thing, or say an unkind word to any one?"
"N—no."
"Then why do you listen when people say unkind things about me?"
Miss Keating stooped very low over the trunk. Her attitude no doubt accounted for the redness of her face which Kitty noticed. "I think I know what they've been saying. Did you or did you not listen?"