“That is not the point, grandfather. I went away to school when I was a little girl. I have been away for five years. You cannot seem to realize that I am a woman now, not a child. You bring me in here like a bad child.”
In the end old Anthony had slammed out of the room. There were arguments after that, tears on Grace's part, persuasion on Howard's; but Lily had frozen against what she considered their tyranny, and Howard found in her a sort of passive resistance, that drove him frantic.
“Very well,” he said finally. “You have the arrogance of youth, and its cruelty, Lily. And you are making us all suffer without reason.”
“Don't you think I might say that too, father?”
“Are you in love with this man?”
“I have only seen him four times. If you would give me some reasons for all this fuss—”
“There are things I cannot explain to you. You wouldn't understand.”
“About his moral character?”
Howard was rather shocked. He hesitated:
“Yes.”