"She is a very difficult girl to manage. If it were not for her we
could get on very well; it is she who upsets everything. She can't
agree with Maggie; they are always quarrelling. The day after the
party she threatened to knock her down if she interfered with her
young man."

"Is it possible! Did she say that? Well, when it comes to young ladies
knocking each other down! Young ladies were very different in my young
days. It only proves what I said about Sally--she ought to have been a
man, she really ought to have been a man. I see it all; I have only to
give one look round to take it all in one glance. When she came to
meet me in Brighton I understood it all at once; I saw she could not
restrain herself, no powers of self-restraint. Her eyes fixed on every
man as if she couldn't see enough of him; her black eyes flashing. I
wanted no telling--I saw it all; the moment a young man went by her
eyes flashed. Here she was--'Aunt Mary, Aunt Mary, there's Meason,
there's Meason, Aunt Mary, Meason, Meason, Aunt Mary.' It is not
right, it can't be right; and to my thinking Maggie is just as bad--a
little more sly perhaps."

"No, not dear Maggie."

"I say it is not right; girls in good health could not go on like
that. If I were you, James, I would take them up to a first-rate
London physician, the very best that can be had for money. Those girls
are highly organised, highly sensitive; their nerves are highly
strung. They want something to bring them down," said Aunt Mary; but
catching at that moment sight of her sister's face, she laughed
consumedly, and, speaking through her laughter, said, "So-and-so, a
first-rate man, I can't think of his name--he will give you the very