“Yes,” replied Lady Emma meekly, “but there were sisters in both cases. When I spoke of the Morions I meant any members of the family. Though I suppose it is very unlikely that any of them would suddenly come down here, when they care nothing about the place, and have got homes of their own.”
“That to me,” said Betty, speaking again abruptly, “is the aggravating part of the whole affair. If people lived at the big house who enjoyed it and appreciated it, it would be quite different. One couldn’t grudge it to them, but to see it empty and deserted year in and year out, when—” she stopped short, a touch on her foot from Frances’, under the table, warning her that it would scarcely be wise to dwell further on what was a sore subject.
Mr Morion rose, pushing back his chair with a rasping sound on the thin, hard carpet, and left the room.
“I hope the fire in his study is all right,” said Lady Emma anxiously.
“Yes,” said Frances; “I glanced in on my way. Is there anything you want us to do this morning, mamma?” she added.
“I cannot possibly say till I have seen the cook,” her mother replied. “There is pretty sure to be something forgotten—servants are so stupid—if you are going to the village.”
“It’s my morning for reading to old Gillybrand,” said Frances rather drearily, “so while I am there Betty can do any messages there are—that’s to say if you care to come with me, Betty.”
“Tell me before you start, then,” said their mother, as she, in her turn, left the room for her kitchen interview. Poor woman! Housekeeping at the Firs was no sinecure, for Mr Morion was, like all hypochondriacs, difficult to please in the matter of food, firmly believing that his life depended on a special dietary. And such a state of things, when there is no financial margin, taxes invention and ingenuity sorely enough.
“What are you going to do to-day, Eira?” asked Frances. “You can’t possibly go out, I’m afraid.”
For all reply Eira extended first one foot and then the other, both encased in woolly slippers, each of which was large enough to have held two inmates at once, under ordinary circumstances.