Yet she had no answer.

“You will understand, sir, why he is absent,” she said, turning to Mr. Harby.

“Oh, yes,” he said, rough and off-hand. Ursula detested him for his male triumph. And she loathed the woman. She loathed everything.

“You will try to have it remembered, sir, that he has a weak heart. He is so sick after these things.”

“Yes,” said the headmaster, “I'll see about it.”

“I know he is troublesome,” the woman only addressed herself to the male now — ”but if you could have him punished without beating — he is really delicate.”

Ursula was beginning to feel upset.