Jinny made him a sign, and John, now
Commissioner of Trade and Customs, advanced as lightly as could be
expected of a heavy, well-grown man.
"Does she sleep?" he asked.
His eyes had flown to the child; only in the second place did they rest
on his wife. At the sight of her free and easy bearing his face changed,
and he said stiffly: "I think, Jane, a little less exposure of your
person, my dear. . . ."
Flushing to her hair-roots, Jinny began as hastily as she dared to
re-arrange her dress.
Mary broke a lance on her behalf. "We were quite alone, John," she
reminded her brother. "Not expecting a visit from you." And added:
"Richard says it is high time Baby was weaned. Jinny is feeling the
strain."
"As long as this rash continues I shall not permit it," answered John,
riding rough-shod over even Richard's opinion. ("I shouldn't agree to it
either, John dear," murmured Jinny.) "And now, Mary, a word with you
about the elder children. I understand that you are prepared to take
Emma back--is that so?"
Yes, Mary was pleased to say Richard had consented to Trotty's return;
but he would not hear of her undertaking Johnny. At eleven years of age
the proper place for a boy, he said, was a Grammar School. With Trotty,
of course, it was different. "I always found her easy to manage, and
should be more than glad to have her"; and Mary meant what she said. Her
heart ached for John's motherless children. Jinny's interest in them had
lasted only so long as she had none of her own; and Mary, who being
childless had kept a large heart for all little ones, marvelled at the
firm determination to get rid of her stepchildren which her sister-in-law,
otherwise so pliable, displayed.
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