"Exactly. The village was a little startled. The cottager who had let the rooms came to me privately. Teddy is rather touchy on the point of his personal independence, he considers any demand for explanations as an insult, and probably all he had said to the old lady was, 'This is Letty--come to share my rooms.' I put the matter to him very gently. 'Oh, yes,' he said, rather in the manner of some one who has overlooked a trifle. 'I got married to her in the Christmas holidays. May I bring her along to see Mrs. Britling?' We induced him to go into a little cottage I rent. The wife was the daughter of a Colchester journalist and printer. I don't know if you talked to her." "I've talked to the sister rather." "Well, they're both idea'd. They're highly educated in the sense that they do really think for themselves. Almost fiercely. So does Teddy. If he thinks he hasn't thought anything he thinks for himself, he goes off and thinks it different. The sister is a teacher who wants to take the B.A. degree in London University. Meanwhile she pays the penalty of her sex." "Meaning--?" asked Mr. Direck, startled. "Oh! that she puts in a great deal too much of her time upon housework and minding her sister's baby." "She's a very interesting and charming young lady indeed," said Mr. Direck. "With a sort of Western college freedom of mind--and something about her that isn't American at all." Mr. Britling was following the train of his own thoughts. "My household has some amusing contrasts," he said. "I don't know if you have talked to that German.