"Nothin'," replied Phoebe, "except that I've been sent on a fool's
errand, an' made to walk all the way from Thorbury, here, an' a longer
an' a dirtier an' a rockier road I never went over. I thought two or
three times that I should just drop. If I'd knowed how stiff my j'ints
would be, I wouldn't 'a' come, no matter what she said."
"She said," repeated La Fleur. "Who?"
"That old Miss Panney!" said Phoebe, with a snap. "She sent me out
here to look after Mike, an' was too stingy even to pay my hack fare.
She wanted me to come day before yesterday, but I couldn't get away
'til to-day."
"Where is Miss Panney?" asked La Fleur, quickly.
"She's gone to the seashore, where the Bannisters an' Miss Miriam is. She
said she'd come here herself if it hadn't been for goin' thar."
"To look after Mike?" asked the other.
"Not 'zactly," said Phoebe, with a grin. "There's other things here she
wanted to look after."
"Upon my word!" exclaimed La Fleur, "I can't imagine what there is on
this place that Miss Panney need concern herself about.
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