"If you do—if you associate yourself with those disreputable people at all—you shall never enter this house again."
Her voice thrilled with the terror of her threat.
"I can look forward to the prospect of that with no great reluctance," said Sally quietly.
"Oh!" Mrs. Bishop exclaimed. "Oh!" Then her daughters wisely led her from the room.
"I've left my egg unfinished," she said brokenly as she departed.
They fondly believed that Sally could not face the ominous threat of her mother until they beheld her trunks ready packed in the hall. Then Elsie came to her.
"Sally," she said, with the voice of one who carries out implacable orders, "do you realize that mother meant what she said?"
"Realize it? I suppose so. I haven't thought about it."
"You don't mean that. You must have thought about it. Do you realize that you'll never see her again?"
"Yes, quite. But not particularly because she says so. I'd never come back again if she were to beg me to. It means a lot to you perhaps, it means nothing to me."