And then you'd be forced to tell lies--which you couldn't, to save your soul!" Dorothea knew this to be true.

She reflected a moment.

"I should decline to show it, or to answer." Mrs.Zeally thought it about time to assert herself.

"Very good, Miss.
And now, how about me?
They'd ask me questions, too; and I'd have you consider, Miss Dorothea, that though not shaken down to it yet--not, as you might say, in a state to expect callers or make them properly welcome--I'm a respectable married woman.

I don't mind confessing to you, Zeally isn't a comfortable man.