" Her gentle voice might have held relief. "For you will
not consider it argument when I agree with you that hard and fast
reasoning is not always a dependable guide for a woman."
The girl was switching her ankles again.
"Why isn't it?" she demanded abruptly, hungry for it now that the
other, ostensibly, did not want to argue. "If reason is no guide, what
else is there left?"
"My dear, I do not know," acknowledged Miss Sarah. "Intuition is a
much over-worked word. And yet, had hard and fast reason been your
guide, you would not have refused Stephen, I am sure. For it would be
difficult to name one particular in which he is not entirely a man."
The violet eyes grew quickly hostile. The girl was keen enough to
argue, but she was in no mood for refutation.
"I am afraid that I do not follow you?" came coldly from her.
"There comes a day in every woman's life, of course," Miss Sarah
ignored sweetly the interruption, "when she has to leave girlhood
behind. And lest that sound bromidic and trite, I will add that I do
not mean the trivial material things of immaturity, but rather the
happy irresponsibility which has no place in a woman's life."
That statement offered a plain enough opening.
"Am I responsible for his unhappiness?" Barbara flashed out. "Is the
fault entirely mine because----" She faltered, ashamed of her
abruptness which had brought a hurt bit of color to Miss Sarah's
cheeks.
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