'Would it be better to send Phebe? Well, perhaps that would be best. Phebe, will you go with Master Eugene—to the front door? But Eugene, you are really very tiresome,' said the elder girl.
'I must have a drink, Jacinth. It's not my fault. I can't help being firsty,' said the boy, in his doleful tone. 'If you say I mustn't, I'll try to bear it, but'——
At this moment an unexpected turn was given to the state of affairs by the gate, a few feet in front of them, being pushed open, to allow some one to come out.
The sound interrupted the children's discussion; they all looked towards the gate.
The 'some one' was an elderly, more correctly speaking, perhaps, an old lady. She was not very tall, but she was thin, and, considering her years, wonderfully erect. As she stood there at the gate, her thick black silk skirt trailing a little, a large fleecy white shawl thrown round her head and shoulders—her bright dark eyes glancing out all the darker and brighter from the contrast with her snowy hair and draperies—she looked both striking and stately. Not a person to take liberties with, assuredly.
Phebe shook in her shoes. As I have said, there was a considerable amount of awe felt in Thetford for the somewhat mysterious inhabitant of Robin Redbreast, and Phebe was a Thetford girl.
As for the young Mildmays, they stood motionless, not overawed, but both impressed and startled, gazing at the unexpected apparition in a way which Jacinth afterwards hoped to herself had not seemed like ill-bred staring.
But the lady was looking at them too. She had a stick in her hand—a polished black-wood stick, with a gold knob at the top—and for the first moment or two she stood as if leaning on it. Then she raised it with a little gesture, as if inviting them to come nearer.
'What was that name I heard you say just now?' she began. 'I heard you from the other side of my garden-wall. I have quick ears, though I am old.'
The mention of ears was unfortunate. Somehow it recalled the story of Red Riding-hood and her grandmother to Eugene; tired and excited already, he grew perfectly white and caught hold of his elder sister's dress. And for a moment or two the presence of mind of the whole party seemed to have deserted them. No one spoke.