m out of the question. What he may think or say
about Chatty is of no consequence to me; in short, I think it is very
bad taste, if you will allow me to say so----"

"Mamma!" Minnie rose up to much more than her full height, which was by
no means great. "Is it possible that you would teach your own daughter
to disregard what her husband says?"

The righteous indignation, the lofty tone, the moral superiority of
Minnie's attitude gave her mother a kind of painful amusement. She said
nothing, but went to the writing-table at the other side of the room.
Everything was very peaceful around and about, no possibility of any
real disturbance in the calm well-being of the family so far as any
ordinary eye could see: Theo gone with his bride into a sphere a little
above that which belonged to him by nature; Minnie with her husband in
all the proud consciousness of virtuous bliss; Chatty quiet and gentle
among her flowers; a soft atmosphere of sunshine and prosperity, shaded
by blinds at the windows, by little diversities and contrarieties in the
spirit, from being excessive and dazzling, was all about. In the midst
of the calm Minnie's little theories of the new-made wife made a
diverting incident in the foreground. Mrs. Warrender looked at her
across the writing-table, with a smile in her eyes.

"I knew," cried Minnie, "that you had many ways of thinking I did not go
in with--but to throw any doubt upon a woman's duty to her husband! Oh,
mamma, that is what I never expected. Eustace is of course the first in
all the world to me, what he says is always of consequence. He is not
one to say a word that he has not weighed, and if he takes an interest
in his sister-in-law, it is because he thinks it his duty to me."

"That is all very well, my dear," said Mrs. Warrender, with some
impatience, "and no doubt it is a great matter for Chatty to have a
sister so correct as yourself, and a brother-in-law to take an interest
in her. But as long as I live I am the first authority about Chatty,
and Eustace is not the first in the world to me. Chatty----"

"Were you calling me, mamma?"

Chatty was coming in with a tall vase of flowers held in both hands.
The great campanulas, with their lavish, magnificent bells, flung up a
flowery hedge between her face and the eyes of the others. It was not
that she had anything to conceal, but undeniably, Chatty felt herself on
a lower level of being, subdued by Minnie's presence. There is often in
y