softening in her narrowed light blue eyes.

"But that is abominable! Abominable!"

And Alexina, who was prepared for a scolding, shrank a little, for it was
the first time that her doting sister had spoken to her with severity.

"I don't care," she said stubbornly, and she set her soft lips until they
looked stern and hard.

"But you must care. You are a Groome."

"Oh, yes, and a Ballinger, and a Geary, and all the rest of it. But I'm
also going to annex another name of my own choosing. I'll marry whom I damn
please, and that is the end of it."

"Alexina Groome!" Mrs. Abbott arose in her wrath. "Cannot you see for
yourself what association with all these common people has done to you?
It's the influence--"

"Of two years in New York principally. The girls there are as hard as
nails--try to imitate the English. Ours are not a patch, not even Aileen,
although she does her best. But I hadn't finished--I even powder my face."
Alexina grinned up at her still rudderless sister. "After mother is asleep
and I am ready to slip out."

"I thought you were safe in New York under the eyes of Ballinger and Geary,
or rather of Mattie and Charlotte. They are such earnest good women, so
interested in charities--"