‘What is to be done?’ was Violet’s disconsolate beginning, as soon as she could see Arthur alone.
‘Take it easy’—words which she had taught herself to regard as a warning that she was doleful. ‘Never mind; if Theodora is so pig-headed as to rush into this scheme, it is no concern of yours. All you have to do is to take care not to be worried.’
Violet had regained a cheerful voice. ‘If you were going with her, it would not signify.’
‘It would signify pretty much to me to be bored with all that riff-raff. One would think Theodora bewitched.’
‘There is hardly any one of our acquaintance.’
‘No, the lady has dropped pretty much in the scale.’
‘I wish I knew what your father and mother would think of it.’
‘They would hate it as much as we do, but they could not prevent it. Nobody can stop Theodora when once she has the bit between her teeth. As I told Percy, if he can’t, ‘tis past all power. I wonder if he thinks by this time he has caught a Tartar?’
‘Did he call you to speak about it?’
‘Yes; to say I must by no means let her go without a respectable female to look after her.’