"If it is, Ada," she said, "it is against my wish and my command.
But--it may be." Then her voice changed as if she were really begging
for something.
"Let me open it," she said. "If it is for Peggy I can tell by the first
line or two, even if he does not use the name. Surely it will do no
harm if I glance at it."
Mother looked even angrier than before.
"Well," she said, "it could do no harm, you think, if you read a letter
intended for Peggy, but you don't dare to risk letting Peggy read a
letter addressed by Harry Goward to you. This is intolerable, Elizabeth
Talbert. You have passed the limit of my endurance--and of my
husband's."
She brought out the last words very slowly, looking Aunt Elizabeth
straight in the eyes, and Aunt Elizabeth looked back with her head very
high. She has a lovely way of using such expressions as "For the rest"
and "As to that," and she did it now.
"As to that," she said, "my brother must speak for himself. No one
regrets more bitterly than I do this whole most unpleasant affair. I
can only say that with all my heart I am trying to straighten it out."
Grandma Evarts sniffed just then so loudly that we all looked at her,
and then, of course, mamma suddenly remembered that I was still there,
regarding the scene with wide, intelligent young eyes, and she nodded
toward the door, meaning for me to go out.
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