Ian Hay

“ Will you be here, Sir Anthony?’
‘No!’ shouted Joan and Denny together.
‘I hope Uncle Tony will be here,’ remarked Mildred gently, ‘but we don’t want to commit him to public appearances at present. He’s having a holiday.’
‘Well, I shall see,’ said Laura calmly. ‘Now I must be off; I have some Old Age Pensioners to visit. You shouldn’t wear blue, Mildred; it doesn’t suit you. ”

“ CHAPTER XIII HEREDITY Most families have a Laura Meakin. Laura’s outstanding characteristic was an uncompromising sense of duty: much of her crowded, energetic, and mainly futile existence had been devoted to correcting in Mildred’s offspring the faults incident upon their mother’s manner of bringing them up. With Joan and Denny she waged continuous warfare, and they treated her with the frank rudeness due to a declared and invulnerable opponent. ”

“ Mildred knitted her brows.
‘Joan is a little inclined to be restive under my old-fashioned methods,’ she said; ‘but Ancestor Worship has been more of a help to her than she realises. It’s not easy for young people to keep to the right line in these days, Uncle Tony. It’s a terribly dangerous age that they live in. ”