For Lady Thompson could be
generous when she was in the mood.
Barbara unfastened the necklace and offered it to her aunt without a
word.
"Nonsense!" said Lady Thompson. "Do you think I want to rob you of your
trinkets because I happen to have given them to you? Keep them, they
may be useful one day when you have a husband and a family and no money.
Pearls may pay the butcher and the rent."
"Thank you for all your kindness, Aunt, and good-bye. I am sorry that
I am not able to do as you wish about marriage, but after all a woman's
life is her own."
"That's just what it isn't and never has been. A woman's life is her
husband's and her children's, and that's why--but it is no use arguing.
You have taken your own line. Perhaps you are right, God knows. At any
rate, it isn't mine, so we had better part. Still, I rather admire your
courage. I wonder what this young fellow is like for whose sake you are
prepared to lose so much; more than you think, maybe, for I had grown
fond of you. Well, good-bye, I'll see about your getting off. There,
don't think that I bear malice although I am so angry with you. Write to
me when you get into a tight place," and rising, she kissed her, rather
roughly but not without affection, and flung out of the room like one
who feared to trust herself there any longer.
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