"She leaves it to papa to do," said Maggie, with dignity and sageness.
"I am glad she does. Shows her wisdom. I can tell what is good for me as well as anybody else."
"Always do it, I suppose?"
"That's just my affair," said Fenton. "There is no use in putting chains round a fellow—all the good of it is, he must just break the chains."
"Do you call papa's commands, chains?" said Maggie.
"Don't stare, Maggie; nothing is so vulgar."
"I am glad Uncle Eden is coming, to make you behave yourself."
"If he tries it on, I shall bolt," said Fenton. "I am out for some fun; and if I can't get it at home I'll get it somewhere else."
Meredith succeeded in turning the conversation to a pleasanter subject; nevertheless Fenton's deliverances shocked his little sister several times in the course of the dinner. Among other things, Fenton would go down to the wine-cellar, to see if a bottle or two might not by chance have been left; and though the key was not to be had and he came back discomfited, Maggie could not get over the audacity of his proposition. She was further and exceedingly shocked after dinner when Fenton proposed to Meredith to have a cigar. Meredith declining, Fenton went out to enjoy his cigar alone.
"Fenton is grown very wild," said Maggie.