So you think they're to change the face of the land, do you ?" "They're already doing it, Major; and it can't be stopped.
Automobiles--" At this point he was interrupted.

George was the interrupter.

He had said nothing since entering the dining room, but now he spoke in a loud and peremptory voice, using the tone of one in authority who checks idle prattle and settles a matter forever.
"Automobiles are a useless nuisance," he said.
There fell a moment's silence.
Isabel gazed incredulously at George, colour slowly heightening upon her cheeks and temples, while Fanny watched him with a quick eagerness, her eyes alert and bright.

But Eugene seemed merely quizzical, as if not taking this brusquerie to himself.

The Major was seriously disturbed.
"What did you say, George ?" he asked, though George had spoken but too distinctly.
"I said all automobiles were a nuisance," George answered, repeating not only the words but the tone in which he had uttered them.