"My dear, there is something which I must say to you at once--at once!"
Miss Arnott looked at her with that mixture of amusement and resentment with which she had been conscious that, of late, Mrs Plummer's near neighbourhood was wont to fill her.
"Then by all means speak, especially if refraining from doing so would occasion you inconvenience."
"Mrs Forrester called; you are never in when people come."
"I am not sorry that I was out when Mrs Forrester came; she bores me."
"You ought to fix a regular day, so that people might know when to find you."
"You have made that remark before. Is that all you have to say?"
"No, it is not; and let me tell you that this flippant way you have of treating everything I say may have the most serious and unlooked-for consequences."
Miss Arnott laughed, which caused Mrs Plummer to resort to a trick she had--when at all put out--of rubbing the palms of her hands briskly together.
"Oh, you may laugh; but I can assure you that if things go on like this much longer I don't know what will be the end of it."