“Dash it all, Miss Humfray, you're rather unkind, aren't, you? Here have I been away nearly two years--I've been travelling on the Continent for the firm-you know that, don't you?”
She said she had heard Mr. and Mrs. Chater talking of it.
“Well, and yet you won't let me come near my darling little sister and my sweet little brother to tell 'em all about it?”
“But I'm not keeping you from them, Mr. Chater. You have had plenty of time.”
“Ah, they were shy. They're better when you are here.”
She had finished her task, and she turned to him. “Mr. Chater, you know I could not keep David and Angela from you even if I dreamed of doing such a thing. Only, I say I would rather you did not come in while I bath them, that is all.”
“Mrs. Chater would not like it for one thing, I feel sure.”
“Oh, that's all rot. Mother wouldn't mind--anyway, I do as I like in this house.”
From all she had heard of Mrs. Chater's beloved Bob, Mary guessed this to be true. Long prior to his arrival she had been prejudiced against him; acquaintance emphasised the prophetic impression.
He felt he was winning. No girl withstood him long.
“No, to-night. Another thing--I want to know you better. This arrangement is all new to me. There was a nurse here in your place when I went. I've hardly spoken to you. Have you ever been abroad?”
“Well, I'll tell you--and the kids--some of my adventures while you're tubbing 'em. Lead on.”
She was at the night-nursery door. Evidently this man would not see her conventional reason for not wishing him at the tubbing. Angela had grown a biggish girl since he went away.
The lesson of dependence was wilfully forgotten. Mary agreed with Angela and David: she hated this Bob.
He had thrown his cigar into the grate; taken out another; stooped to the hearth to scratch a match. His back was to her; to him all her tone conveyed was that a “rag” was on hand.
“We'll see,” he laughed; struck the match.
She stepped swiftly within the door; closed it.
“Let me in!” he cried, rattling the handle. “Let me in!”
“Now, Angela,” he heard her say, “quick as lightning with that chimmy.”
Bob's face darkened; he damned beneath his breath. Then with a laugh he turned away. “I'm going to have some fun with that girl,” he told himself; and on the way downstairs, her pretty face and figure in his mind, pleased himself with vicious anticipation.