Mrs.Hood begged to be left to herself; let them have their tea and leave her in the kitchen, she was best there, out of people's way; it would soon be bedtime, the evening was practically gone.

In the course of half an hour she was at length prevailed upon to come into the sitting-room, and even to taste a cup of tea.

At first she had paid no attention to the reasons alleged for the unpunctuality; little by little she began to ask questions on her own account, petulantly but with growing interest.
Still, the headache was not laid aside, and all spent a very dolorous evening.
In the relation these things have their humorous side; Emily may be excused if she was slow to appreciate it.

She knew very well that the crisis meant for her father several days of misery, and perhaps in her youthful energy she was disposed to make too little allowance for her mother, whose life had been so full of hardship, and who even now was suffering from cares and anxieties the worst of which her daughter was not allowed to perceive.

After the girl's early departure to her bedroom the other two sat talking drearily; after one of her headaches Mrs.Hood always dwelt in conversation on the most wretched features of her life, with despairing forecast.