"Well, if you insist upon it, I expect I shall have to," said Miss
Schenectady. She did not see why her niece should require her presence at
the interview; young men may call on young ladies in Boston without
encountering the inevitable chaperon, or being obliged to do their talking
in the hearing of a police of papas, mammas, and aunts. But as Joe
"insisted upon it," as the old lady said, she "expected there were no two
ways about it." Her expectations were correct, for Joe would have refused
absolutely to receive Ronald alone.
"I know the value of a stern aunt, my dear," she had said to Sybil the day
previous. When matters were arranged, therefore, they went to bed, and in
the morning Miss Schenectady sat in state in the front drawing-room,
reading the life of Mr. Ticknor until Ronald should arrive. Joe was up-
stairs writing a note to Sybil Brandon, wherein the latter was asked to
lunch and to drive in the afternoon. Ronald could not come before ten
o'clock with any kind of propriety, and they could have luncheon early and
then go out; after which the bitterness of death would be past.
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