"Why, you know!" put in her sister.
"Tell, then, Maria," said the mother.
"Matilda must know, mamma; for Mr. Richmond explained it enough."
"Then certainly you must."
"I can't talk like Mr. Richmond, though," said Maria. "Letty, you'll spoil that bonnet if you put red flowers in."
"That's as you think," said Letty. "Blue would be very dull."
"Mamma, what is uncompromising?" pursued Matilda, a pair of large, serious brown eyes fastening on her mother's face to await the answer.
"Did not Mr. Richmond tell you?"
"If he did, I did not understand, mamma."
"Then he ought to use words you can understand; that is all I have to say. I cannot undertake to be Mr. Richmond's dictionary. Uncompromising means different things at different times. It isn't a word for you, Tilly," the mother added, with a smile at the child.