MAGGIE AND MARTIN That moment in her bedroom altered for Maggie the course of all her future life.

She had never before been, consciously, a rebel; she had, only a week before, almost acquiesced in the thought that she would remain in her aunts' house for the rest of her days; now Mr.Magnus, the Warlocks, and her new dress had combined to fire her determination.
She saw, quite suddenly, that she must escape at the first possible moment.
The house that had been until now the refuge into which she had escaped became the jumping-off place for her new adventure.
Until now the things in the house had been there to receive her as one of themselves; from this moment they were there to prevent, if possible, her release.

She felt everything instantly hostile.

They all--Thomas the cat, Edward the parrot, the very sofas and chairs and cushions--were determined not to let her go.
She saw, more than ever before, that her aunts were preparing some religious trap for her.

They were very quiet about it; they did not urge her or bully her, but the subtle, silent influence went on so that the very stair-carpet, the very scuttles that held the coal, became secret messengers to hale her into the chapel and shut her in there for ever.