'You did not speak to him.'

'I never do speak to anybody,' said Marie. 'I have got something to
think of instead of talking to the people. How would the things go,
if I took to talking to the people, and left everything to that
little goose, Peter? Uncle Michel is unreasonable,--and unkind.'

'He means to do the best by you in his power. He wants to treat you
just as though you were his daughter.'

'Then let him leave me alone. I don't want anything to be done. If
I were his daughter he would not grudge me permission to stop at
home in his house. I don't want anything else. I have never
complained.'

'But, my dear, it is time that you should be settled in the world.'

'I am settled. I don't want any other settlement,--if they will
only let me alone.'

'Marie,' said Madame Voss after a short pause, 'I sometimes think
that you still have got George Voss in your head.'

'Is it that, Aunt Josey, that makes my uncle go on like this?' asked
Marie.

'You do not answer me, child.'

'I do not know what answer you want. When George was here, I hardly
spoke to him. If Uncle Michel is afraid of me, I will give him my