"I will tell him you are here; but you must not blame me if he
does not choose to see you. We don't feel you have behaved well
about that girl."
"Letty is my friend. I have behaved to her as if she were my
sister."
"You had no business to behave to her as if she were your sister.
You had no right to tempt her down to your level."
"Is it degradation to earn one's own living?"
"You had nothing to do with her. She would have done very well if
you had but let her alone."
"Excuse me, ma'am, but I have _some_ right in Letty. I am
sorry to have to assert it, but she would have been dead long ago
if I had behaved to her as you would have me."
"That was all her own fault."
"I will not talk with you about it: you do not know the
circumstances to which I refer. I request to see Mr. Wardour. I
have no time to waste in useless altercation."
Mary was angry, and it did her good; it made her fitter to face
the harder task before her.
That moment they heard the step of Godfrey approaching through a
long passage in the rear. His mother went into the parlor,
leaving the door, which was close to where Mary stood, ajar.
Godfrey, reaching the hall, saw Mary, and came up to her with a
formal bow, and a face flushed with displeasure.
"May I speak to you alone, Mr. Wardour?" said Mary. "Can you not
say what you have to say here?"
"It is impossible.
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