"I do know. You can ask Kath if it isn't true."
"I don't want to talk to her about it."
"You needn't, if you'll only be a good girl and do what everybody expects you to do. Come now, do say yes, and let's be happy."
That did make me furious.
"Anyone would think I was a naughty child, and you were some kind of medicine the whole family was waiting for me to take!" I exclaimed. "It's a wonder you don't get out your watch and give me five minutes to do it in."
His eyes began to sparkle with anger. I believe he would have liked to box my ears, and I know I could have boxed his.
"I thought English girls were brought up to be sensible," said he, "and amiable."
"I can't help what you thought," I answered, rudely, for I was getting desperate. "You've no right to keep me here like this, and it won't do you a bit of good, for if you stand there till we're both in our second childhood, I won't change my mind. You ought to know that now, Mr. Parker. Please let me go."
He didn't move.
"If you don't, I'll scream at the top of my lungs," I said. And he must have seen that I meant it, for he flung open the door with a slam and I swept past him, with my nose in the air, trying to look like Mother.