"The bishop!" Mr. Frayling ejaculated with infinite scorn. "_I_ know what women are when they go off like this. Once they set up opinions of their own, there's _no_ talking to them. Why, haven't they gone to the stake for their opinions? She wouldn't obey the whole bench of bishops in her present frame of mind; and, if they condescended to talk to her, they would only confirm her belief in her own powers. She would glory to find herself opposing what she calls her opinions to theirs." "Oh, the child is mad!" Mrs. Frayling wailed. "I've said it all along. She's quite mad." "Is there any insanity in the family?" Major Colquhoun asked, looking up suspiciously. "None, none whatever," Mr. Frayling hastened to assure him. "There has never been a case. In fact, the women on both sides have always been celebrated for good sense and exceptional abilities--_for_ women, of course; and several of the men have distinguished themselves, as you know." "That does not alter _my_ opinion in the least!" Mrs Frayling put in. "Evadne must be mad." "She's worse, I think," Major Colquhoun exclaimed in a tone of deep disgust. "She's worse than mad. She's clever. You can do something with a mad woman; you can lock her up; but a clever woman's the devil. And I'd never have thought it of her," he added regretfully. "Such a nice quiet little thing as she seemed, with hardly a word to say for herself. You wouldn't have imagined that she knew what 'views' are, let alone having any of her own. But that is just the way with women. There's no being up to them." "That is true," said Mr. Frayling. "Well, I don't know where she got them," Mrs. Frayling protested, "for I am sure _I_ haven't any. But she seems to know so much about-- _everything_!" she declared, glancing at, the letter. "At _her_ age I knew _nothing_!"