Gertrude was softened. "I believe you're right," she said, after a pause. "You have such a noble, high-minded way of looking at things! Yes, you had better go to Clarence and talk this over with him, fowl to fowl, and make him realize the great wrong he is committing."
"I've tried it already—several times. But it's no use. He only laughs, and says that as long as Martha puts up with his ways he has no intention of changing them. So the only thing to be done is for you to go to see Martha and...."
"I go to see Martha?"
"Yes—as a friend."
"She's no friend of mine! I'll never forget the way she acted when I invited her to that meeting. When I said to her that it was the duty of every one to attend, she had the effrontery to tell me, very pointedly, that a female's place was on the nest."
"Yes, yes, I know, dear. Yet I should think that, just this once, you might...."
"No, I won't. She'd as likely as not say something insulting about my quacking in public."
"Very well, then," said Eustace in an aggrieved tone. "I'll go talk to her."
"You will? And what will you say to her?"
"I don't know exactly; but I'll try to bring her to a full realization of the position she's in, and then...."