Mrs Matthews who, possibly attracted by her sister-in-law's voice, had come out of the library, said sweetly: “Were you, dear? Well, you can talk about me as much as you like, if you want to.”
“I shall,” said Miss Matthews. “And I hope you heard what I said!”
Mrs Matthews gave her an indulgent smile. “No, dear, I'm afraid I didn't. I came to remind you that I shall want the car this afternoon, if you are sure it is quite convenient to you.”
“Well, it isn't,” said Miss Matthews, with ill-concealed triumph. “Pollen has taken it to be decarbonised.”
Mrs Matthews' smile faded, and a certain rigidity stole over her face. After a slight pause she said, carefully polite: “My dear Harriet, surely you knew that I have an appointment to have my hair done this afternoon? I distinctly remember telling you about it, and asking whether you wanted the car yourself. Surely the car might have been decarbonised another day?”
“Pollen said it ought to be done,” replied Miss Matthews, obstinately.
Mrs Matthews compressed her lips. There was a distinctly un-Christian light in her eyes, but she said smoothly: “I am sure you did it for the best, Harriet, but in future perhaps, it would be wiser if we consulted one another before giving quite such arbitrary orders. Don't you agree?”
“No, I don't!” snapped Miss Matthews, and walked off to put her flowers down in the drawing-room.
Randall watched her go, and glanced down at Mrs Matthews. “My poor Aunt Zoë, do you find life very trying?” he said softly.
She was looking after her sister-in-law, but at Randall's words she turned. She met his cynical eyes, and said without a trace of annoyance in her voice: “No, Randall, not at all. When you reach my age you will have learned not to judge people harshly, my dear boy. I am very, very fond of your Aunt Harriet, and all those little idiosyncrasies which you young people are so impatient of mean just nothing to me. You should always try to look beneath the surface, and remember that when people do things that are not very kind there may be a very good reason for it.”