 anything with
which you can justly charge me. That I happen to be pale, and sometimes to look
diffident, is no business of yours. That I am fond of books, and indisposed for
common gossip, is still less your business. That I am a romancing chit of a girl
is a mere conjecture on your part: I never romanced to you, nor to anybody you
know. That I am the parson's niece is not a crime, though you may be
narrow-minded enough to think it so. You dislike me: you have no just reason for
disliking me; therefore keep the expression of your aversion to yourself. If at
any time, in future, you evince it annoyingly, I shall answer even less
scrupulously than I have done now.«
    She ceased, and sat in white and still excitement. She had spoken in the
clearest of tones, neither fast nor loud; but her silver accents thrilled the
ear. The speed of the current in her veins was just then as swift as it was
viewless.
    Mrs. Yorke was not irritated at the reproof, worded with a severity so
simple, dictated by a pride so quiet. Turning coolly to Miss Moore, she said,
nodding her cap approvingly -
    »She has spirit in her, after all. Always speak as honestly as you have done
just now,« she continued, »and you'll do.«
    »I repel a recommendation so offensive,« was the answer, delivered in the
same pure key, with the same clear look. »I reject counsel poisoned by
insinuation. It is my right to speak as I think proper: nothing binds me to
converse as you dictate. So far from always speaking as I have done just now, I
shall never address any one in a tone so stern, or in language so harsh, unless
in answer to unprovoked insult.«
    »Mother, you have found your match,« pronounced little Jessie, whom the
scene appeared greatly to edify. Rose had heard the whole with an unmoved face.
She now said, -
    »No: Miss Helstone is not my mother's match - for she allows herself to be
vexed: my mother would wear her out in a few weeks. Shirley Keeldar manages
better. Mother, you have never hurt Miss Keeldar's feelings yet. She wears
armour under her silk dress that you cannot penetrate.«
    Mrs. Yorke often complained that her children were mutinous. It was strange,
that with all her strictness, with all her strong-mindedness, she could gain no
command over them
