Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/191

 person than Ian Barr's housekeeper, save Ian Barr himself.

"Not she. She stopped where she was, and insulted him more. 'Put me out by force, if you choose,' says she. 'You'd be equal to that, I dare say; but unless you do, I won't go till I've finished telling you what I think. You're a villain,' says her ladyship. 'You made that poor French girl love you. Then you turned to another and very likely drove her to death.'

"'I deny it absolutely, said Mr. Barr. 'It is shameful that I should be obliged to deny it. Does Sir Ian believe this against me?'

"'I will make him believe,' says my lady. And then she was beginning something about Miss Verney, a young person Mr. Barr was engaged to marry. But that was too much for him. 'Stop!' he shouted. 'I won't stop!' cried her ladyship. 'Very well, then, I'll go, and leave you to babble calumnies to the four walls,' says Mr. Barr—or words like those. And he must have gone instantly, for I didn't hear his voice again. About five minutes afterward a door slammed; so what I supposed was that Lady Hereward waited a bit, thinking he might change his mind and come back, or else she rummaged about to find papers which might explain what had become of the French girl; and then she got discouraged and went away. It was the same day Mr. Barr warned Sir Ian to look for another steward."