"Kit is neither," said Sophy indignantly. "Little as I think of men who won't give us the vote, I think a great deal of Kit."
"Bother your votes!" cried Mrs. Beatson, suddenly recovering her composure, as it was evident that tears did not help her. "All your goings-on are silly."
"Silly! Well, I like that, when we are trying to vindicate the cause of----"
"Oh, Sophy, don't make a row!" interrupted Kit, who saw how the two glared at one another. "Let us hear what mother has to say."
"I have a great deal to say," said Mrs. Beatson savagely, "and if you young people will only hold your tongues, as young people should in the presence of older and wiser----"
"Older certainly, but not wiser," pertly said Miss Tollart.
"For my sake, Sophy," implored Kit, seeing that his mother was stiffening for a royal row. "I want to hear why Mr. Hendle has discharged----"
The word was enough to recall Mrs. Beatson to a memory of her wrongs and she proceeded volubly to discourse about the same. Yet even as she began it occurred to her that it would be as well to bind the young couple to secrecy for the present, as Hendle's hint about the law lingered uncomfortably in her mind. After all, a judge and jury might be silly enough to condemn her behavior. "What I have to tell you both, you must keep to yourselves," she said solemnly, and looked to see if the door was closed. "It's a matter of life and death."
Kit looked scared at this exordium, and even Sophy, bold as she was, began to feel nervous. She knew what a reckless person her future mother-in-law was, and wondered what she had been doing to justify so grave a request.
"Neither Kit nor I will say anything," she promised, catching at her lover's hand for comfort. "I hope it's nothing very serious."