There was an awful silence, then my father said to her, “Serena, do you wish to go out into the world, and leave us?”
“Meow!” she said faintly.
“Then go!” he replied sternly, and he turned his back on her.
It was a fearful blow to my father. He had so prided himself on Serena's beauty, her accomplishments, her devotion to him, her love for her home. Now she not only had deceived and flattered him, but keenest pang of all, she wished to leave him, and go in search of those, as he calls them, vulgar adventures, such as I am having.
Serena felt dreadfully, and so did my mother. Jimmy Dory did too, for he suddenly stopped grinning, and making a goose of himself, and went and lay down in a corner.
“Come,” said Serena under her breath to me, “let us depart.”
“Do you really intend going away with me?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said sulkily and firmly.
“Are you going to the Denvilles'?”
“Of course,” she replied snappishly; “where else should I go?”