"It is very distressing," he said.
"Distressing?" cried Mrs. Dale. "It is worse than distressing. It is disgraceful, that's what it is,—disgraceful! What will Deborah Woodhouse say, and the Draytons? I tell you, Archibald, it must be put a stop to, at once!"
"That is very easy to say," began Dr. Howe.
"It is very easy to do, if there's a grain of sense in your family. Just send your niece"—
"She's your niece, too, Adele," he interrupted.
But Mrs. Dale did not pause—"back to her husband. You ought to have taken her yesterday morning. It is probably all over Ashurst by this time!"
"But you forget," objected Dr. Howe, "he won't let her come; you can't change his views by saying Helen must go back."
"But what does it matter to her what his views are?" said Mrs. Dale.
"It matters to him what her views are," answered Dr. Howe despondently. Somehow, since he had begun to talk to his sister, he had grown almost as hopeless as Helen.
"Then Helen must change her views," Mrs. Dale said promptly. "I have no patience with women who set up their own Ebenezers. A woman should be in subjection to her own husband, I say,—and so does St. Paul. In my young days we were taught to love, honor, and obey. Helen needs to be reminded of her duty, and I'll see that she is."