This was a more authoritative speech than she had ever heard on her niece's lips, and Mrs Penniman was proportionately startled. She was, indeed, a little awe-struck, and the force of the girl's emotion and resolution left her nothing to reply. She was easily frightened, and she always carried off her discomfiture by a concession - a concession which was often accompanied, as in the present case, by a little nervous laugh.