Herbert consulted his brother. "What do you say yourself?"

"I don't know," Randal answered.

"There!" cried Mrs. Presty. "What did I tell you?"

Randal tried to set his strange reply in the right light. "I only
mean," he explained, "that I want a little time to think."

Herbert gave up the dispute and appealed to his wife. "You have
still got the American newspaper in your hand," he said. "What do
you mean to do with it?"

Quietly and firmly Mrs. Linley answered: "I mean to show it to
Miss Westerfield."

"Against my opinion? Against your mother's opinion?" Herbert
asked. "Have we no influence over you? Do as Randal does--take
time, my dear, to think."

She answered this with her customary calmness of manner and
sweetness of tone. "I am afraid I must appear obstinate; but it
is indeed true that I want no time to think; my duty is too plain
to me."

Her husband and her mother listened to her in astonishment. Too
amiable and too happy--and it must be added too indolent--to
assert herself in the ordinary emergencies of family life, Mrs.
Linley only showed of what metal she was made on the very rare
occasions when the latent firmness in her nature was stirred to