“They’re to wait a year, Father says!” shouted Millie.
Aunt Sarah shook her white-plumed head and snorted:
“Katherine! Engaged! To a Stranger! Impossible!”
Aunt Aggie was conscious, at the moment, of nothing except that she herself had been defeated. They had tricked her, those two. They had eluded her vigilance.... They were now, in all probability, laughing at her.
“The last thing I want to do,” she said, “is to blame anybody, but if I’d been listened to at the beginning, Mr. Mark would never have been asked to stay.... It was thoughtless of George. Now we can all see—”
But Millie, standing before them all, her face flushed, said:
“The chief thing is to consider Katherine’s happiness. Mr. Mark is probably delightful. She was sure to marry somebody. How can people help falling in love with Katherine? We all love her. She loves us. I don’t see what Mr. Mark can do to prevent that—and he won’t want to. He must be nice if Katherine loves him!”
But the final word was spoken by Grandfather Trenchard, who had been hitherto utterly silent. In his clear, silvery voice he said:
“A great deal can happen in a year!”
At that moment Katherine and her mother came in.