"Come right in the house," said he, and Maria felt his hand on her arm like steel.

She yielded, and began following him, Wollaston in vain trying to hold her back.
Gladys went behind Wollaston and pushed vigorously.

"You git right in there, the way he says, Wollaston Lee," said she.

"You had ought to be ashamed of yourself." Before the boy well knew what he was doing he found himself in a small reception-room lined with soberly bound books.

All that was clear in his mind was that he could not hinder Maria from entering, and that she must not go into the house alone with Gladys and this strange man.
A man had been standing in the doorway of the house, waiting the entrance of the clergyman.