Tilly was sent away by The Desmond. He could not possibly have such a wicked girl in his house. There was one person whom The Desmond set great store by and that was his little granddaughter Margot, or the pushkeen as he called her. Tilly was jealous of the pushkeen and when she was not allowed to ride her horse she stuck pins into the saddle, hoping thereby to injure if not to kill the little girl. That was the story; he had nothing more to say. He was sorry for Mr. Raynes.
Raynes passed the letter across the table to his wife, who read it with pursed-up lips and glittering pale-blue eyes.
"Well, I must say it was a nasty thing to do," she said.
"It was," said Raynes. "We'll teach her what's what when she's better."
"She's better to-night, Robert. Mary Ann says she is nearly well."
"We'll wait for what's what until to-morrow," said Robert Raynes.
The next day Tilly was dressed. She had partaken of an excellent dinner prepared for her by Mary Ann, and a bright little fire burnt in her room. She was feeling still weak and tired. Her father came in and looked at her. She shrank away from him in a sort of terror.
"Oh, you are afraid of me, are you?" said the coal-merchant. "You have good cause to be. Read that!"
He passed Fergus Desmond's letter across the width of the little table and laid it in Tilly's hand.
"Take your time," he said, "I'm in no hurry."
He sat down deliberately and looked about him. Tilly could not see the letters at all at first from a queer sense of giddiness. She wished her father would go and leave her alone. But he sat quite calmly by the fire.
"You'll just have the goodness to read that quietly," he said. "I'm in no manner of hurry. Take it in, take it all in!"
By degrees Tilly did take it in. She raised terrified weak eyes to her father's face.
"Oh, daddy, daddy," she said. "Don't be angry with me. She's only a shopkeeper and they make such a fuss of her--and I--I'm so weak and miserable."
"Perhaps ye are a bit," said Raynes. "I'm not going to be angry, but ye'll get your whipping all the same."
"Yes, child, there's no escape; just hold on to the foot of the bed and bare your two arms and your shoulders. I don't hold with girls who want to injure other girls. Now for every time you cry out you'll get an extra stroke, so keep as quiet as you can."
