Page:Margaret Sherwood--A Puritan in Bohemia.djvu/153

A Puritan Bohemia "That doesn't sound like you."

"Giving you at twenty-seven what at twenty you wanted and could not have," Anne continued, "is adding insult to injury. It is like granting the refused permission to go to the matinée after the play is all over. You have none of the benefit of consistent discipline, and yet none of the fun."

"But giving you at twenty-seven what at twenty-five you had not earned," said Mrs. Kent with deliberation, "is very different, and quite as much as you deserve."

"There's truth in that," Anne answered meekly; "only I liked doing my work better than I like listening to all this talk about it."

"There speaks the artist!" said Mrs. Kent. "Be comforted, my child. There is undoubtedly enough failure in store for you in the future to keep up your spirits."

The next morning Anne drooped over her breakfast.