Page:The Van Roon (IA thevanroon00snaiiala).pdf/41



The next morning saw the beginning of a chain of epoch-making events in the history of S. Gedge Antiques.

Shortly before eight o'clock Mrs. Runciman turned up as usual after her day off. With a most business-*like promptitude, however, she was given her quietus. In dispensing with her services, from now on, Uncle Si took a real pleasure in what he called "telling her off." Many times had he warned her that she would play the trick once too often. And now that his prophecy had come true, he was able to say just what he thought of her, of her ancestry, and of her sex in general. She would greatly oblige him by not letting him see her face again.

Mrs. Runciman, for her part, professed a cheerful willingness to take her late employer at his word. There was plenty of work to be had; and she departed on a note of dignity which she sustained by informing him in a voice loud enough for the neighbours to hear that "he was a miser, and a screw, and that he would skin a flea for its feathers."

On the top if this ukase to the char, the old man held a short private conversation with his niece. June had begun very well; and if she continued to behave herself, got up in the morning without being called, was not afraid of hard work, and had the breakfast ready by a quarter to eight she would receive, in addition to