‘They seem merry enough,’ said Alec.
‘Yes,’ said Margaret spitefully. ‘Miss Mowbray seems in very good spirits, considering that her uncle has not been dead much more than a month.’
‘How unjust you are!’ cried Alec hotly. ‘As if she ought to shut herself up, and never laugh, because her uncle died! It would be hypocrisy if she did.’
‘There I quite agree with you,’ said Margaret, with an ill-natured smile.
‘You mean that Laura could not be sincerely sorry?’
‘I think she is very shallow and heartless,’ said Margaret, sweetly tranquil as ever.
Alec was furious.
‘You girls are all alike,’ he said with suppressed passion. ‘Either you are always kissing and praising one another, or running each other down. And the more refinement, and delicacy, and beauty another girl has, the more you depreciate her.’
Margaret merely curled her lip contemptuously, and sat trailing her hand through the water, without making any reply.
Nothing more was said till Alec was helping his sister out of the boat on their returning to land.