“I am sharp. I did not mean to be. But it cuts me so when I think that you can flirt with girls like Sue and Miss Gerard. Do you know of what it reminds me? Once the enemy fell upon the rear of an army and smote all that were feeble, when they were faint and weary; it was an army of women and little children, as well as men, and they did not go forth to war; all they asked was a peaceable passage through the land.”
The door was pushed softly open; Tessa lifted her eyes to behold the rare vision of shining gray silk, and real lace, a fine face crowned with white braids and lighted by the softest and brownest of brown eyes.
“My dear.” All her motherhood was concentrated in the two worn-out words.
“Now you may run away, Ralph.”
“I am very glad to,” he said. “Good afternoon, Miss Tessa.”
Tessa could not trust her voice to speak; raising her eyes she met his fully as he turned at the door to speak to his mother; a long searching look on both sides; neither smiled.
“Tessa, have you been quarrelling with my boy?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Has he been quarrelling with you?”
“No, ma’am.”