Tate rolled his eyes. "'In the midst of life we are in death,'" he said solemnly. "It's altogether too serious a matter to be made a joke of, Percy. If you could have heard--" "Now, my dear, you know what I told you. You went to see that woman with the deliberate expectation of finding her a person to be sympathized with, and I can see that you've imagined a lot of nonsense about her. Why in the world don't you let such people alone? You belong in your place and she belongs in hers, and the world is big enough to hold you both without obliging you to come together. You can't understand her feelings any more than she can understand yours. You wonder how you'd feel if you were in her place; you can't realize that if you _were_ in her place you'd be an altogether different person. If you had to go through her performances, of course you'd be scared to death; but you forget she's been brought up to do those things; it's her business, her life. I knew you'd go there and work up a lot of ridiculous sympathy, and badger that woman for nothing!" At the beginning of this speech Mrs. Tate had sat back in her chair with an expression of patient resignation in her face. When her husband finished she breathed a long sigh. "I hope you've said it all, Percy. You're so tiresome when you make those long harangues. Besides, you've only succeeded in showing that you don't understand the case at all." Then, as they finished their soup, Mrs. Tate gave an account of her call of the afternoon, ending with a graphic repetition of the talk with Blanche about the pains in her back. "I shall certainly tell Dr. Broughton about it," she cried. "That poor child--she really _is_ nothing _but_ a child--she's just killing herself by inches, and her husband is worse than a brute to let the thing go on." "So you want to stop it and take away their only means of support." "It isn't their only means of support. It seems the husband has money. That makes it all the worse." "Now, let me say right here, my dear, I wash my hands of this affair. If you want to rush in and upset those people's lives, go ahead, but I'll have nothing to do with it." "I wish you wouldn't scold me so, Percy. It seems to me I usually bear the consequences of what I do. And I don't see what harm there can be in consulting Dr. Broughton. You're always cracking him up yourself." Tate burst into a loud laugh. "If that isn't just like a woman! Turning it onto poor old Broughton." "Oh, sometimes you're so _aggravating_, Percy!"