“Of course not! What a preposterous idea!” replied Mrs. Dainty.
“Then Miss Harper must have authority in your absence.” Uncle John spoke very decidedly.
“Agnes will never submit to any authority from her.”
“Why not from her, pray?”
“Because Agnes has reached an age when she can comprehend the wide difference between their respective stations. She is almost a young lady.”
“You are a weak woman, Madeline,” said Uncle John,—“a very weak woman, and I am almost out of patience with you. Now, do you wish to know, plainly, how I regard this matter?”
“Not particularly.” Mrs. Dainty gaped as she spoke.
“You shall know, for all your well-bred indifference,” said Uncle John, a little sharply. “In my opinion, Miss Harper is in every way the superior to Agnes, and, if I am not vastly mistaken, will in a few years be recognised, in society, as superior.”
“Society!” Mrs. Dainty curled her lip. “What do you mean by society?”
“Something more perhaps than you mean,” was answered. “Men and women recognised by common consent as superior to the mass.”