“Instead of whom, Maisie?”
“Instead of setting your little world by the ears? You just cannot begin to imagine the terrific time I had inducing Mrs. Pippy to remain.”
“Deuce take Mrs. Pippy!” he protested. “She ought to thank her lucky stars for the chance to remain. The first time she met Tamea she looked down her nose at the child——”
“What you do not seem to comprehend, Dan, is that Tamea is not a child.”
“Well, Maisie, all I’ve got to say is that whether Tamea be a child or a woman, an imp or an angel, I promised her father I’d look after her, and I’m going to do it. If she refuses to be directed, if she declines to be obedient, I’ll——”
“Yes, you’ll——”
“You do not like her, Maisie?”
“Oh, I do not dislike her. She merely startles me. She is such a flashy, exotic, alien sort of person, voicing whatever thoughts pop into her head, and with the most extraordinary ideas and outlook on life. She told me all about an Englishman in Riva who was madly in love with her. He was a drunken profligate, and she would have none of him because he was dull and stupid, not because he was such an out-and-out scoundrel. She speaks of sinful people as impersonally as we would of some unfortunate who has measles or tuberculosis.” He laughed. “I suppose you realize, Dan, that to keep Tamea in your home hereafter will be to invite gossip and criticism from those who do not know you so well as we do.”
“But what shall I do with the girl?”
“Send her to a hotel or a convent,” was Maisie’s suggestion.