She went towards the girl as she spoke, and would have wound her arms about her, but Jenny pushed her impatiently aside.
‘Don’t bother me, mamma,’ she said, ‘you know how I hate a fuss. All this worry is mostly your fault, you might have prevented it if you had chosen.’
‘Oh! Jenny, my dear, how?’
‘Why, do you suppose I don’t know it has come of some repetition of yours or Aunt Clem’s? How should papa, who is all day in the city, and never goes with us anywhere in the evenings, have heard that I danced more with Fred Walcheren than any other man, unless you had told him? And I think it is beastly mean of you, too! Why can’t I have my pleasure the same as other girls? I conclude you and papa made love enough to each other when you were young, and yet you grudge me a choice in the matter. I’m only to dance, and talk, and be agreeable with such people as you select for me. It’s bitterly unfair.’
‘Oh, no, darling, don’t say that! Your dear father is only desirous of one thing, to promote your welfare. And Mr Walcheren is very wild, Jenny. He would not make you a good husband. Everybody says so.’
‘And so my happiness is to be sacrificed because “everybody” chooses to tell lies of the man I like, and papa and you choose to believe them. Well! I sha’n’t forget it in a hurry, I can tell you, mamma. And now, please let me go to my room in peace. I suppose I may claim a right to so much indulgence of my own wishes.’
‘My dear girl, when have any of your wishes been ungratified, unless they were likely to prove hurtful to yourself. We should take a knife away from a baby, my darling, however much it cried for it, for fear it should cut itself.’
‘Thank you for comparing me to a baby, mamma, but I think you will find I am not quite such a child as you imagine. Anyway, I am woman enough to wish to be left alone to think over this matter by myself.’
And, without waiting for an answer, Jenny ran up the staircase, and locked herself into her bedroom.
The two ladies downstairs were left in a very uncomfortable condition.