“Impudent!” Miss Harper turned away again.
“Stop!” The foot of Mrs. Dainty jarred on the floor. Miss Harper looked back.
“Don’t see one of the children; but go off with yourself immediately!”
The young governess flitted away almost as noiselessly as a spirit. At the same moment Mrs. Dainty rung her bell violently. To the servant who answered, she said,—
“Tell all the children to come to my room.”
“They shall see who is mistress in this house.” (So she talked with herself in the interval.) “Uncle John has had his way a little too long. But there is a point beyond which patience ceases to be a virtue; and I have arrived at that point.”
“What do you want, mamma?” asked Madeline, as she came with Agnes and her little brother into her mother’s apartment.
“I want you to stay here with me,” was the cold answer.
“Can’t I go back to Miss Harper? She was telling us such a sweet story when you sent for her.”
“No; you can’t go back. You must stay here.”