CHAPTER XXIX 433
" Gone over to Morton for a walk ; but they would be back in half-an-hour to tea ."
They returned within the time Hannah had allotted them : they entered by the kitchen door . Mr . St . John , when he saw me , merely bowed and passed through ; the two ladies stopped : Mary , in a few words , kindly and calmly expressed the pleasure she felt in seeing me well enough to be able to come down ; Diana took my hand : she shook her head at me .
" You should have waited for my leave to descend ," she said . " You still look very pale -- and so thin ! Poor child ! -- poor girl !"
Diana had a voice toned , to my ear , like the cooing of a dove . She possessed eyes whose gaze I delighted to encounter . Her whole face seemed to me full of charm . Mary ' s countenance was equally intelligent -- her features equally pretty ; but her expression was more reserved , and her manners , though gentle , more distant . Diana looked and spoke with a certain authority : she had a will , evidently . It was my nature to feel pleasure in yielding to an authority supported like hers , and to bend , where my conscience and self-respect permitted , to an active will .
" And what business have you here ?" she continued . " It is not your place . Mary and I sit in the kitchen sometimes , because at home we like to be free , even to license -- but you are a visitor , and must go into the parlour ."
" I am very well here ." " Not at all , with Hannah bustling about and covering you with flour ." " Besides , the fire is too hot for you ," interposed Mary .
" To be sure ," added her sister . " Come , you must be obedient ." And still holding my hand she made me rise , and led me into the inner room .
" Sit there ," she said , placing me on the sofa , " while we take our things off and get the tea ready ; it is another privilege we exercise in our little