'Then I must not look to you for help?'
'I am afraid not, sir. I am on my mistress's side.'
'You are an obstinate old woman, Biddy, and I looked for better sense at your age.'
Nevertheless, he shook her by the hand very kindly, and then she lighted him downstairs.
Mollie came out of the dining-room and looked at him wistfully.
'Is mamma better now, Captain Burnett?'
'Well, no, I am afraid not: but I think you need not trouble. Biddy will look after her.'
'Biddy is dreadfully mysterious, and will hardly let any of us speak to mamma; but I think it is my place, not Biddy's, to wait on her. She has no right to tell me to go downstairs, and to treat me like a child. I am fifteen.'
'Yes; indeed, you are growing quite a woman, Mollie.'
And Michael looked very kindly at Audrey's protégée. He and Mollie were great friends.