remain at the
table! You were excused at breakfast, but I am sure there is no
necessity for your running away again. We must pay each other the
respect to remain seated until we have both finished eating. You see,
I am still drinking my tea, and you must allow me another of Delia's
delicious cookies."

It was all said very gently, but Nan recognized beneath all the kind
suggestion an unmistakable tone of command.

She thrust her chair back still further.

"I don't want to wait!" she answered, dryly. "I hate sitting at the
table after I'm through. You can eat all the cookies you like, only I
don't want to wait."

"Ah, but, my dear, I want you to wait," Miss Blake said. "I demand of
you no more than I myself am willing to do. We must be courteous to
each other, and if you had not finished eating I should most certainly
remain until you had. I expect you to do no less for me."

"Well, I can't help it! I don't want to stay and I--I won't!" declared
Nan, with a sudden burst of defiance.

"Very well," returned Miss Blake, calmly. "Of course, you are too old
to be forced to act in a ladylike manner if you do not desire to do so.
But, equally, I am too old to be treated with discourtesy and
disrespect. If you are willing to behave in a rude manner and bear the
reproach that you will deserve, why, well and good--or, rather, ill and
bad! But I cannot sit at table with any but gentle mannered people.
Unless you wish to behave as becomes a lady, we must take our meals
apart."

There was no smile now on the governess' face. Nan suddenly got the
impression that perhaps it would not be quite "as easy as pie" to
"manage" Miss Blake. It seemed to the girl that for the first time in
her life she had encountered determination outside of her own. It
challenged her from every line in the governess' little figure. For a
moment she hesitated before it. Then, gathering herself together and
summoning her dumb demon, she gave her shoulders a sullen shrug and
left the room without a word.

Miss Blake finished her luncheon as though nothing had happened. Then
she rose, and, going into the kitchen, said a few words to Delia--words
that caused the good woman to blink hard for a second and then
exclaimed:

"Yes'm. I will. It hurts me to cross the child, but I s'pose it is
best. You have a brave spirit to set yourself against Nan. I wouldn't
have the stren'th, let alone the will. But I s'pose you know what you
can d