The instant that answer passed her lips she would have given worlds
to recall it. Mrs. Lecount had planted her sting in the right place at
last. Those rash words of Magdalen's had burst from her passionately, in
her own voice.
Nothing but the habit of public performance saved her from making the
serious error that she had committed more palpable still, by attempting
to set it right. Here her past practice in the Entertainment came to
her rescue, and urged her to go on instantly in Miss Garth's voice as if
nothing had happened.
"You mean well, Mrs. Lecount," she continued, "but you are doing
harm instead of good. My pupils will accept no such compromise as you
propose. I am sorry to have spoken violently just now; I beg you will
excuse me." She looked hard for information in the housekeeper's face
while she spoke those conciliatory words. Mrs. Lecount baffled the
look by putting her handkerchief to her eyes. Had she, or had she not,
noticed the momentary change in Magdalen's voice from the tones that
were assumed to the tones that were natural? Impossible to say.
"What more can I do!" murmured Mrs. Lecount behind her handkerchief.
"Give me time to think--give me time to recover myself.
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