"And oh! Aunt West, she was so proud and scornful and overbearing that I was vexed at her; and I'm afraid that I was just a little bit saucy to her. What will she do, do you think? Will she send me away from Lancaster Park?"
"She will have to send me too if she does!" cried Mrs. West.
"Oh, Aunt West, would you really go? Would you give up the home of sixteen years for my sake?" cried the girl.
"Yes, dear, I would go. You have no one but me, and I mean to do the best I can for your happiness. If Lady Lancaster is unreasonable about this matter, I shall leave her," said Mrs. West, decidedly.
"But, oh, aunt, you will be sorry that I came to you—sorry that poor papa left me on your hands," anxiously.
"I shall regret nothing, dear, if I can only do my duty by you," was the reassuring reply that brought a look of relief into Leonora's beautiful face.
Then Elise came with Lady Lancaster's message. She looked curiously at the calm, unruffled face of Leonora.
"Oh, Miss West, you have seriously offended my mistress!" she exclaimed.
"Have I?" Leonora answered, demurely; and Elise knew by the gleam under the girl's long lashes that she did not care. She delivered her message and departed.
"I do not know what to make of that Miss West; but she is decidedly too proud and too pretty for her position," Elise said to herself, when she was going slowly back upstairs to her mistress. "I'm afraid she will cause Mrs. West to lose her place."