On all ordinary occasions the most retiring, the most feminine of women, she now walked up to Captain Stanwick and looked him full in the face, without flinching for an instant.
"You appear to have forgotten that you are speaking in the presence of two ladies," she said.

"Alter your tone, sir, or I shall be obliged to take my niece out of the room." Half angry, half frightened, I tried to speak in my turn.

My aunt signed to me to be silent.

The Captain drew back a step as if he felt her reproof.

But his eyes, still fixed on me, were as fiercely bright as ever.