"It would distress me to seem rude where I have received courtesy," said Kate; "but surely you must sympathise in my anxiety to be once more domesticated with such kind and valued friends. Mr. Winter must return to town; I should much like to accompany him."
And thereupon Mesdames Jorrocks and Wilson burst forth into a vociferous and vituperative duet--
"There was gratitude for you! She had been treated more like a daughter than a dependent; and what was she but a companion after all. There was no end to the favours she had received, but it was the way with the Irish always. It would be a lesson to them how to treat the next companion they got! And now, when this gentleman, whom they had never heard of before, appears, as if from the clouds, Miss Vernon is ready to walk off with him. It was very odd his wife (if he _had_ a wife) could not wait a day or two--people who had to earn their bread should be very careful--and what would Mr. Wilson say," &c., &c.
"Kate, my dear," said Winter, coolly, "go and put up your things--I see this is no place for you--I will wait here."
She left the room, much annoyed to be obliged to part with Mrs. Jorrocks on such terms, yet to stay behind Winter was an impossibility; so, resolutely determining, she hastily packed up her worldly effects, remembering, thankfully, the different mood in which she had last stowed them away.
Winter meantime exerted himself to converse with the amiable mother and daughter, and not without effect. He talked in his most eccentric and abrupt manner, and finally impressed them with the notion that he was a whimsical but wealthy millionaire, to whose fancies it was Kate's interest to accommodate herself. Matters, consequently, wore a less stormy aspect on Kate's return to the sitting-room; both ladies were cool, and Winter very lively.
"So you are off, Miss Vernon," said Mrs. Wilson; "I did not think we should part so sudden."
"I offer Miss Vernon the alternative to return with me, and be my daughter and heiress, or to remain here and be neither," broke in Winter conclusively.
"Well, I suppose you had better go--you acknowledge I owe you nothing," put in Mrs. Jorrocks.
"I do indeed! Will you give this note, with my kindest regards, to Mrs. Davis?" returned Kate.