"You have been there long enough to make these clothes instead of
putting them away, old woman," was the sharp rebuke that startled the
pretended Dinah to a condition of bustling agitation, and induced her to
shut up one of her own shrivelled hands in closing the drawer, with a
force that made her cry aloud, and, when released, wring it with agony,
that drew some words in the vernacular. "What makes you suppose Miss
Monfort wants to hear your chattering, old magpie that you are?"
continued Mrs. Clayton, throwing off her mask. "Now walk very straight,
or the police shall have you next time you steal from a companion.
Remember who rescued you on the Latona, and on what conditions, and take
care how you conduct yourself in the future. Do you understand me?"
After this tirade, which sorely exhausted her, Mrs. Clayton relapsed
into silence; and now it was my time to speak and even scold. I said:
"Now that the Spanish farce is thrown aside, it is hard indeed that I
cannot even be allowed to exchange a few words with a laundress in my
solitary condition--hard that I should be pressed to the wall in this
fiendish fashion. This woman was telling me of the presence of a little
child in the house, and I have desired permission to see it by way of
diversion and occupation. I have asked her to apply to Dr. Englehart.
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