"Father, do let me just drive quickly back and stop it," she pleaded; but her father shook his head.
"I must get on to see Sir James as speedily as I can.

It would take us nearly an hour to go home and reach this far again; the old gentleman would think I wasn't coming to-night.

Look at the sky, too; we must try and get to Welland, if not home again, before the storm bursts.

It will be a bad one when it comes, and anything but pleasant or safe to be driving through over an exposed road such as this; and even now I am afraid it will be dark before we get home." Kitty knew that; but everything seemed trifling in comparison with this affair of Aunt Pike, and she drove on in a state of mutiny and misery very hard to bear, until by-and-by another comforting thought came to her.

If she could not recall that letter, perhaps she could induce her father to write another to her aunt, telling her that after all he had made other arrangements, and that there was no occasion to trouble her.
She would not say anything about it now though, and presently other things occurred which helped to banish for the moment this particular trouble from her mind.
By the time they reached Welland it was very nearly dark, and Kitty felt not a little nervous as she guided Prue through the gate leading into the Manor grounds; for the turning was an awkward one, and the gate not wide.