"I hope you punished Earnest, as he deserved to be," said her sister, as soon as Miss Jones had retired. "I never saw such a child!"
"He certainly behaved badly," returned Mrs. Fleetwood, speaking in an absent manner.
"He behaved outrageously! If I had a child, and he were to act as Earnest did this morning, I'd teach him a lesson that he would not forget in a year."
"No doubt your children will be under very good government, Martha," said Mrs. Fleetwood, a little sarcastically.
"If they are not under better government than yours, I'll send them all to the House of Refuge," retorted Miss Martha.
The colour on Mrs. Fleetwood's cheeks grew warmer at this remark, but she thought it best not to reply in a manner likely to provoke a further insulting retort, and merely said—
"If ever you come to have children of your own, sister, you will be able to understand, better than you now do, a mother's trials, doubts, and difficulties. At present, you think you know a great deal about managing children, but you know nothing."
"I know," replied Martha, "that I could manage my own children a great deal better than you manage yours."
"If such should prove to be the case, no one will be more rejoiced at the result than I. But I look, rather, to see your children, if you should ever become a mother, worse governed than most people's."
"You do?"