"Percy, leave those papers alone! I didn't tell you to turn them over.

You're mixing them all up, tiresome boy! Don't touch them again! It's no use trying to discuss business with you children! I shall write and consult Aunt Harriet.

Go away, both of you, now! I want to have a quiet half-hour." Aunt Harriet stood to the Woodward family somewhat in the light of a Delphic oracle.

To apply to her was always the very last resource.
Matters must have reached a crisis, Winona thought, if they were obliged to appeal to Aunt Harriet's judgment.

She followed Percy into the garden with a sober look on her face.
"You don't think mother would really leave Highfield ?" she asked her brother anxiously.
"Bunkum!" replied that light-hearted youth.