" The door’s locked,” Dorcas told him. “Oh dear!” she lamented. “Oh dear, oh dear—I thought she’d got over it. We were all so happy and peaceful—” “Don’t be absurd, Dorcas,” said Mr. Abbott, quite sharply. It really was absurd—anybody would think that Barbara had taken to drink, at least, by the way Dorcas was going on. "

― D.E. Stevenson , Miss Buncle Married (Miss Buncle, #2)