"I couldn't even tell you what they are about!" said Augustina. "Your father would certainly have forbidden it altogether."
There was a silence. Laura held her head as high as ever. She was, in fact, in a fever of contradiction and resentment, and the interference of people like Mrs. Denton and the Sisters was fast bringing about Mason's forgiveness. Naturally, she was likely to hear the worst of him in that house. What Helbeck, or what dependent on a Helbeck, would give him the benefit of any doubt?
Augustina knitted with all her might for a few minutes, and then looked up.
"Don't you think," she said, with a timid change of tone—"don't you think, dear, you might go to Cambridge for a few weeks? I am sure the Friedlands would take you in. You would come in for all the parties, and—and you needn't trouble about me. Sister Angela's niece could come and stay here for a few weeks. The Reverend Mother told me so."
Laura rose.
"Sister Angela suggested that? Thank you, I won't have my plans settled for me by Sister Angela. If you and Mr. Helbeck want to turn me out, why, of course I shall go."
Augustina held out her hands in terror at the girl's attitude and voice.
"Laura, don't say such things! As if you weren't an angel to me! As if I could bear the thought of anybody else!"
A quiver ran through Laura's features. "Well, then, don't bear it," she said, kneeling down again beside her stepmother. "You look quite ill and excited, Augustina. I think we'll keep the Reverend Mother out in future. Won't you lie down and let me cover you up?"
So it ended for the time—with physical weakness on Augustina's part, and caresses on Laura's.