Claude.
It’s a rule of the estate. I didn’t make it.
Grace.
[Turning to Miss Vernon.] Helen, you’re a woman. You must see how cruel it is. Can’t you say something to help me?
Miss Vernon.
I don’t know what else one’s to do. After all, we have the same rule at Foley.
Claude.
They have it on half the large estates in the kingdom. It’s absolutely essential if one has any regard for decency.
Miss Vernon.
I don’t suppose it would be so common, and it certainly wouldn’t have lasted so long, if there hadn’t been some good in it.