"I shall do nothing of the sort."
"Well, if you think it's wise to give her her head to that extent—a woman with Jane's temperament——"
"What do you know about her temperament?"
Sophy shifted her ground. "I know, and you know the effect he has on her, and the influence; and if you leave her to him—if you leave them to themselves, down there—for weeks like that—you'll have nobody but yourself to thank if——"
He cut her short.
"I have nobody but myself to thank. She shall please herself about coming back. It she didn't come—I couldn't blame her."
Sophy was speechless. Of all the attitudes that any Brodrick could take she had not expected this.
"We have made things too hard for her——" he said.
"We?"
"You and I—all of us. We've not seen what was in her."