Part 14 (1/2)
”Such as special circ.u.mstances may suggest.”
”And in these particular circ.u.mstances--?”
”I'm not prepared to say. I'm not sufficiently familiar with them.”
”Precisely; but I am.”
”You're familiar with them from a man's point of view,” she smiled; ”but it's one of those instances in which a man's point of view counts for very little.”
”Admitting that, what would be your advice?”
”I have none to give.”
”None?”
She shook her head. Leaving his fortified position by the mantelpiece, he took a step or two toward her.
”And yet when I began to speak you seemed favorably inclined to the offer I was making you. You must have had ideas on the subject, then.”
”Only vague ones. I made the mistake of supposing that yours would be equally so.”
”And with your vague ideas, your intention was--?”
”To adapt myself to circ.u.mstances; I couldn't tell beforehand what they would be. I imagined that what you wanted for your daughter was the society of an experienced woman of the world; and I am that, whatever else I may not be.”
”You're very young to make the claim.”
”There are other ways of gaining experience than by years; and,” she added, with the intention to divert the conversation from herself, ”the small store I happen to possess I was willing to share with your daughter, in whatever way she might have need of it.”
”But not in my way.”
”Not in your way, perhaps, but for the furthering of your purposes.”
”How could you further my purposes when you wouldn't do what I wanted?”
”By getting her to do it of her own accord.”
”Could you promise me she would?”
”I couldn't promise you anything at all. I could only do my best, and see how she would respond to it.”
”She's a very good little girl,” he hastened to declare.
”I'm sure of that. Though I don't know her well, I've seen her often enough to understand that whatever mistakes she may make, they are those of youth and independence. She is only a motherless girl who has been allowed--who, in a certain way, has been obliged--to look after herself.
I've noticed that underneath her self-reliant manner she's very much a child.”
”That's true.”
”But I should never treat her as a child, except--except in one way.”