"Encouragement! Where ought a married woman go to but to her husband's relatives? If she cannot stay with him, let her take the next best substitute. It was her duty to come to me."
"If Sheila had fancied it to be her duty, she would have come here at any cost."
"What do you mean, Mr. Ingram?" said Mrs. Lavender severely.
"Well, supposing she didn't like you—" he was beginning to say cautiously, when she sharply interrupted him:
"She didn't like me, eh?"
"I said nothing of the kind. I was about to say that if she had thought it her duty to come here, she would have come in any circumstances."
"She might have done worse. A young woman risks a great deal in running away from her husband's home. People will talk. Who is to make people believe just the version of the story that the husband or wife would prefer?"
"And what does Sheila care," said Ingram with a hot flush in his face, "for the belief of a lot of idle gossips and slanderers?"
"My dear Mr. Ingram," said the old lady, "you are not a woman, and you don't know the bother one has to look after one's reputation. But that is a question not likely to interest you. Let us talk of something else. Do you know why I wanted you to come and see me to-day?"
"I am sure I don't."