"Who's with her?" Mrs. Starling went on.
"Her father was with her. Now Prudence is looking after her."
"Prudence! You want to keep a girl about as much as I want to keep a boat. You have no use for her."
"She is useful just now," put in the Dominie.
"Why can't Diana take care of her own child, and feed her when she takes her own meals?—as I used to do, and as everybody else does."
"You think that is a convenient arrangement for all parties?" said the minister.
"I hate to have danglers about!" said Mrs. Starling. "If there's anything I abominate, it's shiftlessness. I always found my ten fingers was servants enough for me; and what they couldn't do I could go without. And I don't like to see a daughter o' mine sit with her hands before her and livin' off other people's strength!"
Diana laughed, a low, sweet laugh, that was enough to smooth away the wrinkles out of anybody's mood.
"She has to do as she's told," said the minister sententiously.
"That's because she's a fool."