When Chaird came hurrying from his bed there wasna so much as a scale in the waggon."
"And there was the gulls overhead laughin' to split their sides," cried Phœbe.
"And all the wee fish in their maws," added Hugh.
Derek smiled, not without malice. "I should like to have seen that," he said. "So Gunn is to leave?"
"Ay. He'd like to come back here, I believe."
"After the kicking I gave him? He's a hardy socialist."
"I dinna think your kicks made him sae sore as Chaird's continuous pricks and jibes."
"Well, I won't take him back."
"We won't," put in Fawnie, "have any help here that's saucy or lazy. Get about your work, Phœbe. I don't pay you for hangin' over the back fence, gossipin.' Get the meat out of the oven before it's black, and stew the tea."
Matters between Fawnie and Phœbe were bound to come to a head. They did so with calamitous force and abruptness.
Derek never discovered what the quarrel was about. The breaking of the spout off a teapot was mentioned, also the alienating of Buckskin's affections. He had kicked and screamed when his mother had picked him up, and had held supplicating arms out to Phœbe. Derek heard the torrent of words as he neared the house. The maid was in the kitchen, the mistress in the dining room, and they hurled abuse through the intervening pantry, with a ferocity only ended by Phœbe's going into hysterics and Fawnie's snatching up the bread-knife.
Derek took the knife from her, and, turning it about, gave her knuckles a smart rap with the handle. He then hustled her into the hallway and locked the door upon her. He realized then that she had tried to bite him, and he had a sudden desire to follow her and give her the whipping
