Ida was too amazed for a moment to realise the full significance of the spiteful speech; and then, as it gradually dawned upon her, the blood rose to her face and an indignant protest rose to her lips; but she checked it, and merely repeated the objectionable phrase.

“Yes, disgraceful,” said Mrs. Heron.  “I am sorry to be compelled to use such a word to a young girl and to one in your position; and I do not think you make matters better by pretending not to know what I mean.”

“It is no pretence, Mrs. Heron,” said Ida, quite calmly.  “I do not in the least know what you mean.”

“Then I’ll tell you,” retorted Mrs. Heron, with suppressed fury.  “You are one of the most shameless flirts I ever knew.”

Ida fell an almost irresistible desire to laugh; she had been tired when she came in, Mr. George Powler’s attentions had made her still more weary, and the sight of the two women seated bolt upright and evidently boiling over with anger, was full of a grotesque humour which affected her hysterically.  She managed to stifle the laugh, and looked at them patiently and calmly as she stood by the mantel-piece with one arm resting on the shelf.  The unconscious ease and grace of her attitude increased Mrs. Heron’s irritation; her thin lips trembled and her eyes grew red.

“Oh, I am not blind,” she said.  “I’ve been quite aware of your conduct for some time past; but I have refrained from speaking to you because, as I say, you are under my roof and I did not wish to hurt your feelings—­though I am sure you have had very little regard for ours.  I have been greatly deceived in you, Ida.  I thought when you came that you were a quiet, well-conducted young woman, and I could scarcely believe my eyes when I first saw that I was mistaken, and that your quietness was only slyness.  I suppose you didn’t think I saw that you were trying to entrap my poor boy; but a mother’s eyes are sharp, and a mother will protect her own at any cost.  Oh, you needn’t try to stare me out of countenance, or to put on that surprised and innocent look.  You may have been able to deceive me once, but you can’t now.  I’ve been watching you, and I’ve seen with my own eyes your carryings on.”

“Mrs. Heron—­” began Ida, very quietly; but Mrs. Heron tore on with breathless vehemence.

“I suppose you only did it for your amusement; I don’t suppose you thought there would be any good in it, that his father or I would allow Joseph to make such a fool of himself as to throw himself away upon a girl without any means; but it’s all the more shameful.  You succeeded very well; you’ve turned the poor boy’s head and made him miserable.  It’s to be hoped that it will stop there, and that he won’t be driven to drink or desperate courses, as some young men are.  Of course you’ll say that you never meant anything of the kind.  I’m quite prepared for that—­you can be plausible enough when you like; with that quiet, cat-like manner of yours.”