Mr. Finch cleared his throat, and lifted his right hand persuasively by way of introduction to his next sentence.
I answered Oscar in a whisper.
"I don't like intruding on them. Lucilla told the nurse they were to be left by themselves."
Just as I said the words, I became aware of a sudden bump against me from behind. I turned, and discovered Jicks with the battering-ram-doll, preparing for a second plunge at me. She stopped, when she found that she had attracted my attention; and, taking hold of my dress, tried to pull me out of the room.
"Remove that child!" cried the rector, exasperated by this new interruption.
The child pulled harder and harder at my dress. Something had apparently happened outside the sitting-room which had produced a strong impression on her. Her little round face was flushed; her bright blue eyes were wide open and staring. "Jicks wants to speak to you," she said—and pulled at me impatiently harder than ever.
I stooped down with the double purpose of obeying Mr. Finch's commands and of humouring the child's whim, by carrying Jicks out of the room, when I was startled by a sound from the bed-chamber—the sound, loud and peremptory, of Lucilla's voice.
"Let go of me!" she cried. "I am a woman—I won't be treated like a child."
There was a moment of silence—followed by the rustling sound of her dress, approaching us along the corridor.
Grosse's voice—unmistakably angry and excited—became audible at the same time. "No! Come back! come back!"