"Well, marm, I do declare I think we'd better go away out of this." "Go away, Mrs.Growler! What nonsense! Where can we go to ?" "The mill would be nearest, ma'am, and we should be safe there.

I'm sure Mrs.Medlicot would take us in." "Why should you not be safe here ?" said Kate.
"That wretched Chinese hasn't gone and left us for nothing, miss, and what would we three lone women do here if all them Brownbies came down upon us?
Why don't master come back?
He ought to come back; oughtn't he, ma'am?
He never do think what lone women are." Mrs.Heathcote took her husband's part very strongly, and gave Mrs.
Growler as hard a scolding as she knew how to pronounce.

But her own courage was giving way much as Mrs.Growler's had done.

"We are bound to stay here," she said; "and if the worst comes, we must bear it as others have done before us." Then Mrs.Growler was very sulky, and, retreating to the kitchen, sobbed there in solitude.

"Oh, Kate, I do wish he would come," said the elder sister.
"Are you afraid ?" "It is so desolate, and he may be so far off, and we couldn't get to him if any thing happened, and we shouldn't know." Then they were again silent, and remained without exchanging more than a word or two for nearly half an hour.