"Yes," said he, "I told both my father and my mother. What she says to you, you must hear, and bear it quietly for my sake."
"I will," said Margaret.
"I think that she is unreasonable, but still she is my mother."
"I shall always remember that, John."
"And she is old, and things have not always gone well with her. She says, too, that you have been impertinent to her."
Margaret's face became very red at this charge, but she made no immediate reply.
"I don't think you could mean to be impertinent."
"Certainly not, John; but, of course, I shall feel myself much more bound to her now than I was before."
"Yes, of course; but I wish that nothing had occurred to make her so angry with you."
"I don't think that I was impertinent, John, though perhaps it might seem so. When she was talking about my being a companion to a lady, I perhaps answered her sharply. I was so determined that I wouldn't lead that sort of life, that, perhaps I said more than I should have done. You know, John, that it hasn't been quite pleasant between us for the last few days."