"It irritates me to hear Miss Georges' voice muffled up with Mrs. Cocks and Jane Smith. I don't suppose Riff Church has ever had such a voice in it since it was built."
"I'm sure I can't tell about that. But Miss Georges has been partly trained for a public singer."
"Has she? I did not know that."
"The truth is we know very little about her. I am not sure we ought not to have made more inquiries before we admitted her to the choir and the Sunday school."
"My dear, pure good-nature on her part is responsible for her being in either. And could anything be more ultra respectable than her aunts?"
"We don't know who her father was. I should not wonder if he were an actor, her manner of singing is so theatrical. Not quite a good example for the other trebles. She draws attention to herself."
"She can't help that, Angela. That is partly due to her appearance, for which she is not responsible."
Mr. Black, patient and kindly by nature, showed to greater advantage with his sister than with Annette, because he never attempted to show Miss Black the sort of man he was. You could not be two minutes in her society without realizing that she saw no more difference between one person and another than she did between fresh eggs and stale. Men were men to her, as eggs were eggs. And that was all about it.
"She is responsible for a good deal of the attention she courts," said Miss Black scornfully, and with a modicum of truth on her side. "She need not let her hair stand out over her ears, or make those two little curls in the nape of her neck. And did you notice her absurd hat?"
"I noticed nothing absurd about it."