"My father used to say that when a lady had read a chapter of her Bible
in the morning, and consulted her cook-book, she had done as much
literary work as was good for her. Too intimate an acquaintance with
books, he always said, was apt to unsettle the views, and the best
judgment a woman can have, I am sure, is the opinion of the gentlemen of
her family."

"That may be true," I admitted, and my self-possession returned to me,
until a certain masculine assurance sounded in my voice, "but I'm quite
sure I shouldn't like anybody else's opinion to decide mine."

"You are a man," rejoined Miss Mitty, and I felt that she had not been
able to bring her truthful lips to utter the word "gentleman." "It is
natural that you should have independent ideas, but, as far as I am
concerned, I am perfectly content to think as my grandmother and my
great-grandmother have thought before me. Indeed, it seems to me almost
disrespectful to differ from them."

"And it was dear great-grandmama," laughed Sally, "who when the doctor
once enquired if her tooth ached, turned to great-grandpapa and asked,
'Does it ache, Bolivar?'"

She had tossed her riding hat aside, and a single loosened wave of her
hair had fallen low on her forehead above her arched black eyebrows.
Beneath it her eyes, very wide and bright, held a puzzled yet resolute
look, as if they were fixed upon an obstacle which frightened her, and
which she was determined to overcome.

"You are speaking of my grandmama, Sally," observed Miss Mitty, and I
could see that the levity of the girl had wounded her.

"I'm sorry, dear Aunt Mitty, she was my great-grandmama, too, but that
doesn't keep me from thinking her a very silly person."

"A silly person? Your own great-grandmama, Sally!" Her mind, long and
narrow, like her face, had never diverged, I felt, from the straight
line of descent.

"My sister and I unfortunately do not agree in our principles, Mr.
Starr," said Miss Matoaca, breaking her strained silence suddenly in a
high voice, and with an energy that left tremors in her thin, delicate
figure. "Indeed, I believe that I hold views which are opposed generally
by Virginia ladies--but I feel it to be a point of honour that I should
let them be known." She paused breathlessly, having delivered herself
of the heresy that worked in her bosom, and a moment later she sat
trembling from head to foot with her eyes on her plate. Poor little
gallant lady, I thought, did she rememb