“O Mr. Solent!” she cried. “ Do let your mother have our front-room for the night. Aunt Mattie takes lodgers, though grandfather does sell the School hats! I know Aunt Mattie would love to have your mother. Wouldn’t she, Miss Gault? Do tell him she must come to us. Do tell him, Miss Gault! He’ll let her come if you’ll only say so!” And with that the child sidled up against their hostess’s knees with such beguiling cajolery that Wolf was surprised at the coldness with which the woman received her appeal.

She made a very faint movement with her two hands, just as if the child had not been at her side at all⁠—a movement as if she were pressing down a load of invisible earth over the roots of an invisible plant.