“Stop!” she cried. “Stop this minute! Gertrude Dott, your father and I are going back to Trumet and you are going with us.”
“Oh, no, I'm not. Why, Cousin Percy—”
“Don't you dare mention his name to me.”
“Why not? He is very gentlemanly and very aristocratic. You told me that when I first came, Mother. You were always talking about him and praising him then. And I'm sure he moves in the highest circles; he says he does, himself.”
“He is a good-for-nothing loafer. He has sponged upon your father—”
“You have often spoken of him as an honor to the family.”
“A good-for-nothing, dissipated, fast—”
“Oh, a little dissipation is expected in society, isn't it?”
“I should think you would be ashamed!”
“Why? I haven't done a thing that you haven't done, Mother. That is, nothing which your friends don't do every day. They are ever so much more advanced than I am. I have only begun. No, indeed, I am not going back to plain, common, everyday old Trumet. I shall stay here and progress. You and your friends have shown me what is expected of a girl in my position and I shall take advantage of my opportunities. Why, Mrs. Black says that, if I play my cards well, I may catch a millionaire, perhaps a foreign nobleman. How would you like to be mother-in-law to a—well, to a count, for instance?”