“ ’Um! Laodicean. I admit it—Laodicean.”
“Fiddle! John Exton is a free-thinker. Children——!”
Brian and Cicely looked at her gravely. Cicely realised that her mother was dredging, as she called it, anxious to sweep public opinion into her net. And Cicely, not Brian, was well aware that public opinion counted with the lady of the manor, although she never admitted as much.
Lady Selina said with intense solemnity:
“I believe it is my duty to give Ephraim Exton notice to quit.”
Cicely exclaimed vehemently:
“Darling Mother, please don’t!”
Brian shrugged his shoulders, muttering:
“I went ferreting with old Ephraim. That ought to count.”
Cicely gave a better reason.