Cristina said quietly. “I am quite vexed with you, and I want you to leave now before you upset her further.” “Aunt Euphemia said I should keep my eye on you,” Isobel said. “She did not mean you should follow me everywhere I go, and even if you suppose she did mean that, you will do as I bid now and go back at once.” “I’ll strive to hold my tongue, but I won’t leave,” Isobel said firmly. Cristina sighed. Arguing with her little sister would do nothing to aid the situation and could do much to worsen it if Mariota took further offense. Turing her back on Isobel, she gently urged the palfrey nearer, encouraged when Mariota made no objection. Behind her, Isobel remained mercifully silent. “Stop there,” Mariota commanded. “I do not know what you hope to accomplish, Cristina, because I won’t go back with you. If I did, people would say I didn’t mean what I said, and I won’t have that. They’ll see how things are after I fling myself to the wind and they see how desolated Hector Reaganach is.
