"Very distracting for the servants, too," said Mrs. Leighton calmly, and ratified Elma's venture with her approval.
She ate a grape with extreme care.
Isobel did not answer. She froze in her pink gown however, and a storm gathered kindling to black anger in her eyes.
She looked Elma over, her whole bearing carrying a threat. It was a pose which generally produced some effect.
But Elma was fighting for something more than her own paltry little authority. She was bucking up "for Mabel's sake."
She pretended to treat it as a joke now that Isobel "knew."
"So after this I'm in undisputed authority," she exclaimed, and wondered at herself for her miraculous calmness. "And if you, Betty, endeavour to get more salt in the soup or try on any other of your favourite dodges, I shall--"--she also ate a grape quite serenely--"I shall half kill you."
"Oh, Betty," she said afterwards, "I feel as though I had gone in for a bathe in mid-winter. Did you see her eye!"
"I did," said Betty. "So did papa. You'll find it will be easier for us now. How calm you were! I should have fainted."
"My knees were knocking like castanets," said Elma. "If I had had them japanned, you would have heard quite a row. But it's very stimulating." It occurred to her that now she could write in a self-respecting manner to Mabel.