"Oh, confound it!" said Hans, in the same moment.
"Hans, that is wicked," said Mab. "Suppose we had lost you."
"I can not help being rather sorry," said Kate. "And her mother?—where is she?"
"Her mother is dead."
"I hope the brother is not a bad man," said Amy.
"Nor a fellow all smiles and jewellery—a Crystal Palace Assyrian with a hat on," said Hans, in the worst humour.
"Were there ever such unfeeling children?" said Mrs Meyrick, a little strengthened by the need for opposition. "You don't think the least bit of Mirah's joy in the matter."
"You know, ma, Mirah hardly remembers her brother," said Kate.
"People who are lost for twelve years should never come back again," said Hans. "They are always in the way."
"Hans!" said Mrs Meyrick, reproachfully. "If you had lost me for twenty years, I should have thought"
"I said twelve years," Hans broke in. "Anywhere about twelve years is the time at which lost relations should keep out of the way."
