Anna turned back to Sophy Viner, who stood straight and
tremulous between the two.

"After all, my dear, he's not unreasonable!"

"I'll write--I'll write," the girl repeated.

"WHAT will you write?" he pressed her vehemently.

"Owen," Anna exclaimed, "you are unreasonable!"

He turned from Sophy to his step-mother. "I only want her
to say what she means: that she's going to write to break
off our engagement. Isn't that what you're going away for?"

Anna felt the contagion of his excitement. She looked at
Sophy, who stood motionless, her lips set, her whole face
drawn to a silent fixity of resistance.

"You ought to speak, my dear--you ought to answer him."

"I only ask him to wait----"

"Yes," Owen, broke in, "and you won't say how long!"

Both instinctively addressed themselves to Anna, who stood,
nearly as shaken as themselves, between the double shock of
their struggle. She looked again from Sophy's inscrutable
eyes to Owen's stormy features; then she said: "What can I
do, when there's clearly something between you that I don't