“I really can't say, Mary; Sally has contrived to upset her sister; she would have been, I feel sure, glad to marry Mr. Berkins if she had not been upset by Sally.”
“Upset by Sally, what do you mean?”
“I told you that Sally tries to turn Berkins into ridicule, laughs at his beard among other things.”
“I must see Grace about this,” said Aunt Mary; “you must excuse my laughing, but Sally is often very droll.”
Choosing the first occasion when Maggie and Sally were absent from the room, Aunt Mary said, “Come, Gracie, dear, tell me about this marriage. I hear that your mind is not made up—that you are not at all decided. This is not acting fairly towards your father. You are placing him in a very false position.”
“I don't think so, aunty. No one, so far as I can make out, is either decided or satisfied. Mr. Berkins is not satisfied with the society we see.”
“The Southdown Road you mean,” interrupted Mr. Brookes, “and very properly, too.”
“And father and he cannot agree upon money matters, and I don't like a beard—”
“You never objected to a beard until Sally put you against it.”
“Yes, I did, father; I always told you—”