"She's one of the kind that's particular. Lord
Coombe's the reason. She does not want her boy to see or speak to
him, if it can be helped. She won't have it--and when she found
out--"
"Is Lord Coombe as bad as they say?" put in Anne with bated breath.
"He must be pretty bad if a boy that's eight years old has to be
kept out of sight and sound of him."
So it was Lord Coombe who had somehow done it. He had made Donal's
mother take him away. It was Lord Coombe. Who was Lord Coombe? It
was because he was wicked that Donal's mother would not let him
play with her--because he was wicked. All at once there came to
her a memory of having heard his name before. She had heard it
several times in the basement Servants' Hall and, though she had
not understood what was said about him, she had felt the atmosphere
of cynical disapproval of something. They had said "him" and "her"
as if he somehow belonged to the house. On one occasion he had
been "high" in the manner of some reproof to Jennings, who, being
enraged, freely expressed his opinions of his lordship's character
and general reputation. The impression made on Robin then had been
that he was a person to be condemned severely. That the condemnation
was the mere outcome of the temper of an impudent young footman
had not conveyed itself to her, and it was the impression which
came back to her now with a new significance.
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