"Doris, Doris," said Mona, "that is the sheerest casuistry. You know no power on earth would tempt you to cut your own poor relations."
"I don't know. The women all happen to be particularly nice. I should not break my heart if I thought I should never see some of the men again."
"All women are particularly nice, according to you; no doubt my cousin Rachel would be included in the number. No, no; tell all that to the marines! I know you too well. And pray don't preach such dangerous doctrine. It would be precisely the people who have risen above their relatives only in the vulgar externals of life who would be most ready to take advantage of it."
"Well, I confess that I always argue the matter with Frank. Personally, I don't see why one cannot be happy and cordial when one meets one's relations, without sacrificing one's self to them as you are doing."
"I don't know that I am sacrificing myself. Perhaps," she added suddenly with a curious smile, "I shall acquire at Borrowness some personal experience in the 'wide, puzzling subject of compromise.'"
"Compromise!" repeated Doris. "Please don't go out of your way for that. The magnificent thing about your life is that there is no occasion for compromise in it. That duty is reserved for people with benighted old fathers. Borrowness is somewhere near St Rules, is it not?"
"Yes," said Mona. "There is only the breadth of the county between them."
"I know some very nice people there. I shall be proud to give you an introduction if you like."
"No, no, no, dear," said Mona quickly. "My friends must be my cousin's friends. Thank you very much all the same."
"But, Mona, at the end of this miserable six months you will go on, won't you?"