remember----"

"Let him answer me first! I asked him a perfectly plain question.
It--it is silly to ignore me as though I were a foolish child--as though
I didn't know my mind."

"I think, Mr. Tappan, perhaps if you could give Miss Seagrave a
qualified answer to her questions--make some preliminary statement--"
began Mr. Cray cautiously.

"Concerning what?" snapped Tappan with a grim stare.

"Concerning my stockings and my underwear," said Geraldine fiercely.
"I'm tired of dressing like a servant!"

Mr. Tappan's rugged jaw opened and shut with another snap.

"I'm opposed to any such innowation," he said.

"And--my coming out this winter? And my quarterly allowance? Answer me!"

"Time enough when you turn twenty-one, Miss Seagrave. Cultiwation of
mind concerns you now, not cultiwation of raiment."

"That--that--" stammered Geraldine, "is s-su-premely s-silly." The tears
reached her eyes; she brushed them away angrily.

Mallett coughed and glanced at Myndert Beekman, then past the secretary,
Mr. Varick, directly at Mr. Tappan.