Eileen's at the present minute was beyond description.
Dumbfounded was a colorless word to describe her state of mind.
"You don't mean that," she gasped in a quivering voice when at
last she could speak.
"I can see, Eileen, that you are taken unawares," said Linda. "I
have had four long years to work up to this hour. Hasn't it even
dawned on you that this worm was ever going to turn? You know
exquisite moths and butterflies evolve in the canyons from very
unprepossessing and lowly living worms. You are spending your
life on the butterfly stunt. Have I been such a weak worm that
it hasn't ever occurred to you that I might want to try a plain,
everyday pair of wings sometime myself ?"
Eileen's face was an ugly red, her hands were shaking, her voice
was unnatural, but she controlled her temper.
"Of course," she said, "I have always known that the time would
come, after you finished school and were of a proper age, when
you would want to enter society."
"No, you never knew anything of the kind," said Linda bluntly,
"because I have not the slightest ambition to enter society
either now or then. All I am asking is to enter the high school
in a commonly decent, suitable dress; to enter our dining room as
a daughter; to enter a workroom decently equipped for my
convenience. You needn't be surprised if you hear some changes
going on in the billiard room and see some changes going on in
the library. And if I feel that I can muster the nerve to drive
the runabout, it's my car, it's up to me.
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