These invisible people wished to be informed whether she was engaged to William Rodney, or was the engagement broken off?
Was it right, they asked, to invite Cassandra for a visit, and was William Rodney in love with her, or likely to fall in love?
Then the questioners paused for a moment, and resumed as if another side of the problem had just come to their notice.

What did Ralph Denham mean by what he said to you last night?
Do you consider that he is in love with you?
Is it right to consent to a solitary walk with him, and what advice are you going to give him about his future?
Has William Rodney cause to be jealous of your conduct, and what do you propose to do about Mary Datchet?
What are you going to do?
What does honor require you to do?
they repeated.
"Good Heavens!" Katharine exclaimed, after listening to all these remarks, "I suppose I ought to make up my mind." But the debate was a formal skirmishing, a pastime to gain breathing-space.

Like all people brought up in a tradition, Katharine was able, within ten minutes or so, to reduce any moral difficulty to its traditional shape and solve it by the traditional answers.

The book of wisdom lay open, if not upon her mother's knee, upon the knees of many uncles and aunts.

She had only to consult them, and they would at once turn to the right page and read out an answer exactly suited to one in her position.