“Look at that man! Do you deny that you are his divorced wife?” she asked scathingly.
Louise scanned his face with sullen fury.
“I deny it, yes!” she exclaimed loudly, emphatically. “That man was once married to my step-sister, Molly Trueheart. I have never been married at all!”
The loud, angry voice penetrated the back parlor, and the child upon the floor with the book sprang up with a low murmur of delight. She ran to the curtains, swept them aside with a touch of her little hand, and bounded into the room.
For a moment she was disconcerted at the sight of all those strange and wondering faces. She exclaimed eagerly:
“I thought I heard mamma’s voice!”
The next moment she caught sight of Louise glowering at her father, and rushed precipitately forward.
“Mamma! mamma!” she exclaimed joyously, and flung her little arms fondly around the tall, stately woman.
There was a minute’s intense silence as Louise’s glaring falsehood was thus set at naught by the sweet lips of her child.
Mrs. Barry, furious that she had been so deceived, broke the hush with a sarcastic laugh.