"
"My precious Ettie, what nonsense--for a violent exercise like
bicycling! Where one gets so hot! So unbecomingly hot! You'd be simply
stifled, darling." I caught a darted glance which accompanied the words
and which made Ettie recoil into the recesses of her pudding.
"But yesterday was so cold, Clara," Mrs. Mallet went on, actually
venturing to oppose the infallible authority. "A nipping morning. And
such a flimsy coat! Might not the dear child be allowed to judge for
herself in a matter purely of her own feelings?"
Mrs. Le Geyt, with just the shadow of a shrug, was all sweet
reasonableness. She smiled more suavely than ever. "Surely, Lina," she
remonstrated, in her frankest and most convincing tone, "_I_ must know
best what is good for dear Ettie, when I have been watching her
daily for more than six months past, and taking the greatest pains
to understand both her constitution and her disposition. She needs
hardening, Ettie does. Hardening. Don't you agree with me, Hugo?"
Le Geyt shuffled uneasily in his chair. Big man as he was, with his
great black beard and manly bearing, I could see he was afraid to differ
from her overtly.
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