"Who brought them in ?" she said.
"Who gathered them ?" Mrs.Peck hesitated momentarily, almost as if she did not want to answer.

Then, half defiantly, "Why, Rufus, to be sure," she said.
"Rufus!" A great hot wave of crimson suddenly suffused Columbine's face--a pitiless, burning blush that spread tingling over her whole body.
She lay very still while it lasted, and Mrs.Peck set down the cup and, rising energetically, began to tidy the room.
At length, faintly, the girl spoke again: "Aunt Liza!" Mrs.Peck turned.

There was a curious look in her eyes, a look half stern and yet half compassionate.

"There, my dear, that'll do," she said.

"I think you've talked enough.