Phœbe saw that to persist in her letter would utterly destroy the repose that was essential in Mervyn’s state, and she laid aside her pen.
‘Going to do it out of sight?’ he petulantly said.
‘No; but at any rate I will wait till Miss Fennimore has talked to Bertha. She will be more willing to listen to her.’
‘Because this is the result of her emancipating education. Ha!’
‘No; but Bertha will attend to her, and cannot say her notions are servile and contracted.’
‘If you say any more, I shall get up and flog them both.’
‘Miss Fennimore is very wise,’ said Phœbe.
‘Why, what has she taught you but the ologies and the Rights of Women?’
‘The chief thing she teaches,’ said Phœbe, ‘is to attend to what we are doing.’
Mervyn laughed, but did not perceive how those words were the key of Phœbe’s character.