without seeing him. Well--if she went away
she'd have to get used to that.

But she had so many things to explain, so much to say to make it
right with him; she knew well what a blow it was. Now it was all over
town--and she had had no chance to defend her position.

The neighbors called. Tall bony Mrs. Delafield who lived nearest to them
and had known Diantha for some years, felt it her duty to make a special
appeal--or attack rather; and brought with her stout Mrs. Schlosster,
whose ancestors and traditions were evidently of German extraction.

Diantha retired to her room when she saw these two bearing down upon
the house; but her mother called her to make a pitcher of lemonade for
them--and having entered there was no escape. They harried her with
questions, were increasingly offended by her reticence, and expressed
disapproval with a fullness that overmastered the girl's self-control.

"I have as much right to go into business as any other citizen, Mrs.
Delafield," she said with repressed intensity. "I am of age and live in
a free country. What you say of children no longer applies to me."

"And what is this mysterious business you're goin' into--if one
may inquire? Nothin you're ashamed to mention, I hope?" asked Mrs.
Delafield.

"If a woman refuses to mention her age is it because she's ashamed of
it?" the girl retorted, and Mrs. Delafield flushed darkly.

"Never have I heard such talk from a maiden to her elders," said Mrs.
Schlosster. "In my country the young have more respect, as is right."

Mrs. Bell objected inwardly to any reprimand of her child by others; but
she agreed to the principle advanced and made no comment.

Diantha listened to quite a volume of detailed criticism, inquiry and
condemnation, and finally rose to her feet with the stiff courtesy of
the young.

"You must excuse me now," she said with set lips. "I have some necessary
work to do."

She marched upstairs, shut her bedroom door and locked it, raging
inwardly. "Its none of their business! Not a shadow! Why should Mother
sit there and let them talk to me like that! One would think childhood
had no limit--unless it's matrimony!"

This reminded her of her younger sister's airs of superior wisdom, and
did not conduce to a pleasanter frame of mind. "With all their miserable
little conventions and idiocies! And what 'they'll say,' and 'they'll
think'! As if I cared! Minnie'll be just such another!"

She heard the ladies going out,