'
Poor Laura! It was no sooner said than she regretted it--a little,
not much. But poor Polly! Where was her good angel then? Why could
she not have treated this thrust with the silence and contempt it
deserved? But how could Laura have detected and probed the most
sensitive spot in the girl's nature? She lost all command of
herself. Her rage absolutely frightened her, for it made her deaf
and blind to all considerations of propriety and self-respect, and
for a moment she was only conscious of the wild desire to strike--
yes, even to kill--the person who had so insulted all that was
dearest to her.
'Don't dare to say another word!' she panted, with such flaming
cheeks and such flashing eyes that Laura involuntarily retreated
towards the door, half afraid of the tempest her words had evoked.
'Don't dare to say another word, or I don't know what I may do! Yes,
I am glad you are going, and everybody will be glad, and the sooner
you go the better! You've made everybody miserable ever since you
came, with your jealousy and your gossip and your fine-lady airs; and
if Aunt Truth hadn't loved your mother, and if we were mean enough to
tell tales, we would have repeated some of your disagreeable speeches
long ago. How can you dare to say I love the Winships for anything
but themselves? And if you had ever seen my darling mother, you
never could have called her a boarding-house keeper, you cruel--'
Oh, but the dashing torrent of angry words stopped at the mere
mention of her mother.
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