‘I see,’ he said, ‘I have been very indiscreet; I have vexed you though I did not mean it. I don’t make any excuse for myself, except that I thought at first you were coming back immediately. Forgive me: and I will go away, and never at any time will I do it any more.’ She gave a little laugh, turning round. ‘No, I don’t think you will do it again; but, unfortunately, that does not alter the fact that you have done it, and made me very uncomfortable. Are you going away? Then good night; you will have a pleasant walk up to the Hall.’ ‘Not nearly so pleasant as if it had been an hour later,’ he said. ‘Oh, that is merely an idea. You will really like it better. Mab ought to be here to thank you for carrying her basket. Good night, Leo,’ Lady William said. She stepped out into the narrow passage after him to see him away; and, at the moment, in the open doorway Mab appeared with a cry of surprise. ‘Oh, are you going so soon? Are you not going to stop for tea?’ ‘I am sent away,’ he said. ‘By mother?’ ‘Yes. To make sure of amendment another time,’ he said ruefully, and went away with so much the air of a schoolboy under punishment, that Mab came in open-mouthed to her mother. ‘Oh! what have you been doing to Mr. Leo? Oh! why have you sent him away?’ Lady William made no answer, but rang the bell, as it very seldom was rung in this small house; an unusual occurrence, which brought Patty in with a rush, still rubbing a candlestick she held in her hand. ‘Patty, did you ask Mr. Swinford to come in and wait till Miss Mab and I came back?’ ‘Yes, my lydy,’ said Patty, with sharp eyes that gleamed in the light. ‘And you did not ask Mrs. Swinford, when she called, to come in and wait?’ ‘Oh, no, my lydy,’ cried Patty, aggrieved. ‘Why?’ said her mistress solemnly. ‘Oh, my lydy!’ said Patty, thunderstruck. ‘Yes, why?’ I want to know, why should Mr. Swinford wait for me and not Mrs. Swinford? I do not wish anybody to be asked to wait for me when I am out. If you were ever to do it again, I don’t know what I might be obliged to say.’ ‘Oh, my lydy,’ said Patty, ‘I thought as Mr. Swinford was a young gentleman as perhaps made it a little cheerful for Miss Mab---- and I thought as the old lady wasn’t a pleasure for nobody; and I thought---- ’ ‘If that is true of old ladies, why should you stay with me, Patty, who am an old lady, too, and not a pleasure to anybody----’ ‘Oh, my lydy!’ said Patty, bursting into a torrent of tears. ‘Go, you little goose, and think no more of it; but ask nobody to wait for me. Now remember! you are here to do what you are told, but never to think. Thinking is the destruction of little maids. Ask Anne if she ever ventured to think when she was a girl like you.’ ‘Yes, my lydy,’ said Patty, drying her eyes. XVIII