"Mr. Lavendar!" she cried. "Do go into the drawing room and speak to my aunt. Preach to her! Argue with her! Convince her that she can't and mustn't act in this way; can't go and turn Mrs. Prettyman out, and rob her of the plum tree, and leave her with hardly a penny in the world or a roof over her head!"
"It's not a very pretty or a very pleasant business, Mrs. Loring, I admit," said Lavendar quietly.
"Is it English law?" cried Robinette with indignation. "If it is, I call it mean and unjust!"
"Sometimes the laws seem very hard," said Lavendar. "I'd like to discuss this affair with you quietly another time."
As he spoke, Carnaby appeared and wanted to be told what the matter was, but Robinette discovered that it is not very easy to criticise a grandmother to her youthful grandson, more especially when the lady in question is your hostess.
"Aunt de Tracy and I have had a little difference of opinion about Mrs. Prettyman and her cottage, and the plum tree," she said to the boy quietly, and Lavendar nodded approval.
"Prettyman's got the sack, hasn't she?" Carnaby enquired with a boy's carelessness.
Robinette looked very grave. "My dear old nurse is to leave her cottage," she said with a quiver in her voice. "She's to lose her plum tree--"
"But of course she'll get compensation," cried Carnaby.
"No, Middy; she's to get no compensation," said Robinette in a low voice.
"Well, I call that jolly hard! It's a beastly shame," said Carnaby, evidently pricking up his ears and with a sudden frown that changed his face. "I say, Mark--" But Lavendar did not think the moment suitable for a discussion of Mrs. Prettyman's wrongs. Besides, he did not wish Robinette to be banished from the drawing room for a whole interminable evening. He contrived to silence Carnaby for the time being.
"Let's bury the hatchet for a little while," he suggested. "Have you forgotten, Mrs. Loring, that I made Mrs. de Tracy promise to show off the Stoke Revel jewels for your benefit this very night?"
"O! but now I'm in disgrace, she won't!" said Robinette.
"Yes, she will!" said Carnaby. "Nothing puts the old lady in such a heavenly temper as showing off the jewels. Don't you miss it, Cousin Robin! It's like the Tower of London and Madam Tussaud's rolled into one, this show, I can assure you. Come on! Come back into the drawing room. Needn't be afraid when Mark's there!"