"She was there."
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know."
"Can't you see her?"
"No, ma'am."
Calista looked all about. Not a soul was in sight on the road; in the orchard and the fields nothing moved but the wind; the yard was empty except for the
cat slipping round the corner with his mottled coat shining. "Now listen," she said, not unkindly. "I saw you out of the window, and there was no lady here. Why do you tell a story like that?"
The child looked at her in a preoccupied way and did not answer.
"I can't have you say things that are not so, Mary. If you do it again, I have to whip you. Now pick up your doll-baby and come in."
She spoke of it to Conrad that evening, but he did not pay much attention.