"Not for a young girl alone. Cecilia is very ignorant of England;
you could not be with her. Your father would not hear of it. You must
remember that Cecilia is under his control until she is twenty-one."

"My father has never bothered about either of us," Bob said bitterly.
"He surely won't object if I take her off your hands."

"He will certainly not permit any such thing. Whatever arrangement he
made during your aunt's lifetime was quite a different matter. If you
attempt to take Cecilia from his control you commit an illegal action,"
said Mrs. Rainham--hoping she was on safe ground. To her relief Bob did
not contradict her. English law and its mysteries were beyond him.

"I don't see that that matters," he began doubtfully. His stepmother cut
him short.

"You would very soon find that it matters a good deal," she said coldly.
"It would be quite simple for your father to get some kind of legal
injunction, forbidding you to interfere with your sister. Home training
is what she needs, and we are determined that she shall get it. You will
only unsettle and injure her by trying to induce her to disobey us."

The hard voice fell like lead on the boy's ears. He felt very helpless;
if he did indeed snatch his sister away from this extremely unpleasant
home, and their father had only to stretch out a long, legal tentacle
and claw her back, it was clear that her position would be harder than
ever. He could only give in, at any rate, for the present, and in his
anxiety for the little sister whom Aunt Margaret had always trained him
to protect, he humbled himself to beg for better treatment for her. "No
one ever was angry with her," he said. "She'll do anything for you if