"Very gentle, and calm, and proper, for an example to me; and so nobody does us any injustice--nobody oppresses us? Very well: but I did not know it before." "Nay," said Anne, playfully; "that is not what I said. But: "'The good old rule Sufficeth me, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can.'" "Anne!" "I am quite serious. There are few amongst us who are ruled more than we need to be, Marjory. The best mind will always assert itself, in whomsoever it may dwell--we are safe in that.--The weak ought to be controlled and guided, and will be, wherever there is a stronger, whether man or woman." "Strange doctrines, these!" said Marjory Falconer. "I acknowledge myself outdone. I give up my poor little innovations. Why, Anne Ross, what would the proper people say? What would the Coulters--the Fergusons--the whole parish?" "Perfectly agree with me," said Anne, "when it had time to think about it, without being shocked in the least. The proper people. You forget that I am a very proper person myself." "So I did," said Marjory Falconer, shrugging her shoulders, "so I did. Patronised by Mrs. Bairnsfather, highly approved by Mrs. Coulter and Mrs. Ferguson--I almost thought, just now, that you were as improper as myself." CHAPTER XXV. The summer had reached its height--the fervent month of July was waning, and Anne Ross's cheek growing paler every day.--Very hard to bear this time of waiting was, harder than any toil or labor, more utterly exhausting than any weight of care and sorrow, which had opportunity and means of working! She hardly ventured to speak of returning to Aberford, for Mrs. Ross's peevishness at the merest hint of such a wish, and the impatience of Lewis, were perfectly natural, she acknowledged. Her former journey, undertaken in opposition to their opinion, had produced nothing; she could not expect that they would readily yield to her again.