"
"Make a larger one."
"Make one for me, Maude," again broke in Anne's little voice.
"No, I won't!" returned Maude. "You are big enough to thread beads for
yourself."
"No, she's not," said Reginald. "Make her one, Maude."
"No, don't, Maude," said Edward. "Let them do things for themselves."
"You hear!" whispered Lady Hartledon.
"I do hear. And Val sits there and never reproves them; and the old
dowager's head and eyes are nodding and twinkling approval."
Lady Laura was an energetic little woman, thin, and pale, and excessively
active, with a propensity for setting the world straight, and a tongue as
unceremoniously free as the dowager's. In the cause of justice she would
have stood up to battle with a giant. Lady Hartledon was about to make
some response, but she bade her wait; her attention was absorbed by the
children. Perhaps the truth was that she was burning to have a say in the
matter herself.
"Maude," she called out, "if that ring is too small for you, it would do
for Anne, and be kind of you to give it her."
Maude looked dubious. Left to herself, the child would have been generous
enough. She glanced at the dowager.
"May I give it her, grand'ma?"
Grand'ma was conveniently deaf. She would rather have cut the ring in
two than it should be given to the hated child: but, on the other hand,
she did not care to offend Laura Level, who possessed inconveniently
independent opinions, and did not shrink from proclaiming them.
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