Mrs. Roughsedge, who had
been Diana's first protector, saw herself supplanted--not without a
little natural chagrin.
The controversy of the moment was submitted to Marsham, who decided
hotly against the Vicar, and implored Diana to stand firm. But somehow
his intervention only hastened the compunction that had already begun to
work in her. She followed the Roughsedges to the door when
they departed.
"What must I do?" she said, sheepishly, to Mrs. Roughsedge. "Write to
him?"
"The Vicar? Oh, dear Miss Mallory, the doctor will settle it. You
_would_-change the books?"
"Mother!" cried Hugh Roughsedge, indignantly, "we're all bullied--you
know we are--and now you want Miss Mallory bullied too."
"'Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow,'" laughed Marsham,
in the background, as he stood toying with his tea beside Mrs. Colwood.
Diana shook her head.
"I can't be friends with him," she said, naively, "for a long long time.
But I'll rewrite my list. And _must_ I go and call on the Miss Bertrams
to-morrow?"
Her mock and smiling submission, as she stood, slender and lovely, amid
the shadows of the hall, seemed to Hugh Roughsedge, as he looked back
upon her, the prettiest piece of acting.
Pages:
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177