"I?" she said.
"To be sure. I should at the worse pension her. But she has served us faithfully, I believe--beginning, I think," Sir Hervey continued with a slight touch of constraint, "by whipping me when I needed it; and she would be distressed, I fear, if she had to go. If you could contrive to do with her for a while, therefore, I should be much obliged to you."
Sophia had risen and moved a little way from him.
"Did you think I should discharge her?" she said, without turning her head.
"Well," he answered, "I did not know, my dear. Young housekeepers----"
"Why did you think I should discharge her?" she cried, interrupting him sharply; and then, "Pray forgive me," she continued hurriedly, yet stiffly, "I--you hurt me a little in what you said of--the tenants. I only ask you to believe that I am as incapable of dismissing an old servant for a trifle as you are of behaving unjustly to your tenants!"
He did not appear to notice her emotion.
"Thank you," he said. "Then we understand one another. Of course, I don't wish you to feel this an obligation. Mrs. Stokes is growing old----"
"It is no obligation," she said coldly. And then, "I think it will be more pleasant on the terrace," she continued; and she moved towards the door.