"This cannot go on. You have done everything to please Alex—to try and make her happy, and it has all been of no use. Let her take her own way! We have failed."
"No!" almost shrieked Alex.
"What do you mean? We have your own word for it and your sister's that you are not happy at home, and infinitely prefer the society of some woman of whom we know nothing, in surroundings which I should have thought would have proved highly uncongenial to one of my daughters, brought up among well-bred people. But apparently I am mistaken.
"It is the modern way, I am told. A young girl uses her father's house to shelter and feed her, and seeks her own friends and her own interests the while, with no reference to her parents' wishes.
"But not in this case, Alex. I have your mother and your sisters to consider. Your folly is embittering the home life that might be so happy and pleasant for all of us. Look at your mother!"
Lady Isabel was in tears.
"What shall I do?" said Alex wildly. "Let me go right away and not spoil things any more."
"You have said it," replied Sir Francis gravely, and inclined his head.
"Francis, what are you tellin' her? How can she go away from us? It's her home, until she marries."
Lady Isabel's voice was full of distressed perplexity.