Kitty Trenire | Page 9

angry, black, with a dull red glow burning through
here and there, while a hot mist veiled the horizon.
For a time they drove on without speaking, Prue's regular footfalls, the
noise of the wheels, and the sharp, clear calls of the birds alone
breaking the silence. Kitty was thinking deeply, trying to summon
courage to make her earnest, final appeal, and wondering how to begin.
"Father," she began at last, "I--I wish you would give us one more
chance--trial, I mean. We would try to behave better, really we would;
and--and I will do my best to look after the house and the servants
properly. I am sure I can if I try. There shall always be hot water,
and--well, you see I feel it is all my fault, and I have brought it all on
the others--"
Dr. Trenire came back with a start from his drowsy musings, and tried
to gather what it was that his daughter was saying, for she was rather
incoherent. Her voice shook at first with nervousness. "Eh, what?" he
stammered.
It was disconcerting to Kitty to find that he had not been taking in a
word of what it had cost her such an effort to say. "I will do my best to
look after the house and the servants," she repeated desperately, "if--"
"But I am afraid, child, you really don't know how. It is not in anger,
Kitty, that I am making this new arrangement. I am doing it because I
feel you have a task entirely beyond your power, and for all your sakes
I must see that you have an orderly and comfortable home, and--"
"It won't be comfortable," said Kitty pathetically. "It will never be that
any more."
"You must not begin by being prejudiced against your aunt," reasoned
her father gently.

"I am not, father, really; we are not prejudiced," she answered; "but we
know, and--and every one else knows that--that--well, when I told
Jabez what was going to happen, he sat down on a bucket and he
looked--he looked at first as though he were going to faint, and then as
though he would leave. I feel nearly certain he will not stay, I really do,
father. Aunt Pike was always down on him."
Dr. Trenire felt a little uneasy. He hated changes amongst his servants
when once he had grown used to them, and Jabez was a faithful and
valuable one in spite of his peculiarities. "You should have thought of
all this sooner," he said, rather crossly, "and not have made such a step
necessary."
"But--but, father, if we promise now, and really mean it, and begin at
once, and--and--" Kitty was so excited she could hardly get her words
out, for she had quickly caught the signs of wavering in her father's
voice and manner. Already she felt as though victory were near.
"Anyhow, father, give us six months, or even three months more, just
to let us show that--"
With an exclamation, Dr. Trenire leaned forward and pulled the right
rein sharply. "Take care, child," he cried; "you will have us over in a
moment. You have almost got this wheel over the edge of the ditch.
You must learn to attend to the business in hand, or you will never
succeed in anything. Another inch and you would have upset us, and
probably have broken a spring."
Dr. Trenire's nerves were on edge, and he spoke more sharply than was
usual with him. Kitty felt that she had made a bad beginning, her spirits
sank, and she lapsed into silence. But when they were once more
bowling smoothly along, her father's thoughts returned to her appeal.
"I am afraid it is too late now," he said gently, sorry for his momentary
irritability. "I have already written to your aunt."
Kitty turned a stricken face to him, and her hold of the reins loosened
again. "Written to Aunt Pike--already!" she gasped. "Oh!" But hope
rose again a moment later. "But you haven't posted it?"

"Yes, I have. At least, I gave it, with some others, to Jabez to post. It
will have gone by the time we reach home."
"Oh, how dreadful!" Kitty's fingers tightened on the reins. Her impulse
was to turn and drive back furiously to try and intercept that fatal letter.
"Father, do let me just drive quickly back and stop it," she pleaded; but
her father shook his head.
"I must get on to see Sir James as speedily as I can. It would take us
nearly an hour to go home and reach this far again; the old gentleman
would think I wasn't coming to-night. Look at the sky, too; we must try
and get to Welland, if not home again, before the storm bursts. It will
be