"Mary Ann," said Teddy, stopping short at the stairs, "must I really go down? Can't I run away? Won't you help me to run away, Mary Ann? I'll give you something nice if you will."
"La, miss, don't talk and look so wild! You just tell 'em you did it quite accidental, and they'll forgive you. The Miss Middletons is real ladies, and they won't scold, but they'll take it awful hard if you try to deceive 'em. Just tell 'em you did it."
"I can't possibly do that. Oh, Mary Ann, I wish I were in South America with my father and mother!"
She had reached the parlor door by this time, and there she paused. Presently, summoning all her courage, she pushed it open and entered.
"Poor little miss!" said Mary Ann to herself. "Of course she did it, and I'm real sorry for her."
And then she went off to the kitchen to tell the other frightened servants that there was no doubt as to who was guilty.
The parlor was a very large room, and Venetian-blinds at the seven long windows shut out the light of day as much as possible. Two of them, at one end of the room, had been drawn up this morning, however. As has been said, the parlor was furnished in old-fashioned mahogany. There were eight-legged tables, quaintly shaped shelves and cabinets, Chippendale chairs, and even an ancient piano, made in the style of eighty years ago.
The Misses Middleton were modern in one respect only; their drawing-room was filled with bric-à-brac. There were lacquered-ware tea-poys from Japan and quaint idols from India, while rare old bits of china filled every available space. Near one of the windows stood a Chinese table. It was curiously carved, and the top was inlaid with bits of wood and ivory in the shapes of mysterious Chinese symbols, and upon this table had always rested, in honor and apparent security, the famous Middleton bowl.
The walls were lined with rare old paintings, and portraits from the hands of Sully, Stuart, and even of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Gainsborough, looked down upon the five descendants of the ancient race of Middleton this September morning when they sat, drawn up in battle array, to receive their niece.
Slowly she walked into the room, and with downcast eyes and burning face she stood before her aunts. They were seated in a semicircle, their backs turned toward the windows, where the shades had been raised; therefore the light streamed full in the face of Theodora.