I do not
like Mike to come into our part of the house with his boots."
Ralph shouldered the bag, and Dora stepped up to him.
"I will stay with the horse until you come out again," she said, not
speaking very loudly.
Miss Panney, who had heard all that had been said, smiled, and her black
eyes twinkled. "Truly," she said to herself, "for so short an
acquaintance, this is getting on wonderfully."
Miriam, her arms full of parcels, and her mind full of household economy,
walked rapidly by Miss Panney without seeing her at all, and, entering
the dining-room, passed through it into the pantry. But when Ralph
appeared in the open doorway, the old lady rose and confronted him, her
finger on her lip.
"I have just popped in to make a little call on your sister," she
whispered; "but I saw she was pretty well loaded as she passed, and I did
not wish to embarrass her--I do not mind embarrassing you. Don't put down
the bag, I beg. I shall step into the drawing-room, and you can say I am
there. By the way, who is that young woman standing by the horse?"
"It is Miss Bannister," answered Ralph, his face unreasonably flushing as
he spoke.
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