After hovering for a few moments with eyes that gathered
wrath, the Mayoress gave voice to her feelings.
"So you pay no attention to my wishes, Serena! I will not have you
reading such books!"
Her daughter rustled the dictionary, impassive. Conscious of reduced
authority, Mrs. Mumbray glared and breathed hard, her spacious bosom
working like a troubled sea.
"Your behaviour astonishes me!--after what you heard Mr. Vialls
say."
"Mr. Vialls is an ignorant and foolish man," remarked Serena,
without looking up.
Then did the mother's rage burst forth without restraint, eloquent,
horrisonous. As if to save her ears, Serena went to the piano and
began to play. When the voice was silenced, she turned round.
"You had rather have me play than read that book? That shows how
little you understand of either. This is an _immoral_ piece of
music! If you knew what it meant you would scream in horror. It is
_immoral_, and I am going to practise it day after day."
The Mayoress stood awhile in mute astonishment, then, with purple
face, swept from the room.
The family consisted of four persons. Serena's brother, a young
gentleman of nineteen, articled to a solicitor in the town, was
accustomed to appear at meals, but seldom deigned to devote any more
of his leisure to the domestic circle. After luncheon to-day, as he
stood at the window with a sporting newspaper, his mother addressed
him.
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