Maggie was sorry for Aunt Elizabeth but, with all the arrogance of the young, a little despised her.

Why did she tremble and start like that?
She should stand up for herself and not mind what her sister said to her.
Finally, there was something about the house for which Maggie could not quite account, some uneasiness or expectation, as though one knew that there was some one behind the door and was therefore afraid to open it.
It may have been simply London that was behind it.

Maggie was ready to attribute anything to the influence of that tremendous power, but her own final impression was that the people in this house had for too long a time been brooding over something.

"It would do my aunts a lot of good to move somewhere else," she said to herself.

"As Aunt Anne loves the country so much I can't think why she doesn't live there." There were many things that she was to learn before the end of the day.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a little whirr and clatter, which, thin and distant though it was, penetrated into her room.