An Unsocial Socialist | Page 8

you may stay with us, if you wish. I did not expect a visit from you so
soon; but your room has not been used since you went away."
Mrs. Trefusis ceased crying, chilled by this first intimation that her
father's house was no longer her home. A more real sense of desolation
came upon her. Under its cold influence she began to collect herself,
and to feel her pride rising like a barrier between her and her mother.
"I won't stay long," she said. "If his solicitor will not tell me where he
is, I will hunt through England for him. I am sorry to trouble you."
"Oh, you will be no greater trouble than you have always been," said
Mrs. Jansenius calmly, not displeased to see that her daughter had
taken the hint. "You had better go and wash your face. People may call,
and I presume you don't wish to receive them in that plight. If you meet
Arthur on the stairs, please tell him he may come in."
Henrietta screwed her lips into a curious pout and withdrew. Arthur
then came in and stood at the window in sullen silence, brooding over
his recent expulsion. Suddenly he exclaimed: "Here's papa, and it's not
five o'clock yet!" whereupon his mother sent him away again.
Mr. Jansenius was a man of imposing presence, not yet in his fiftieth

year, but not far from it. He moved with dignity, bearing himself as if
the contents of his massive brow were precious. His handsome aquiline
nose and keen dark eyes proclaimed his Jewish origin, of which he was
ashamed. Those who did not know this naturally believed that he was
proud of it, and were at a loss to account for his permitting his children
to be educated as Christians. Well instructed in business, and subject to
no emotion outside the love of family, respectability, comfort, and
money, he had maintained the capital inherited from his father, and
made it breed new capital in the usual way. He was a banker, and his
object as such was to intercept and appropriate the immense saving
which the banking system effects, and so, as far as possible, to leave
the rest of the world working just as hard as before banking was
introduced. But as the world would not on these terms have banked at
all, he had to give them some of the saving as an inducement. So they
profited by the saving as well as he, and he had the satisfaction of being
at once a wealthy citizen and a public benefactor, rich in comforts and
easy in conscience.
He entered the room quickly, and his wife saw that something had
vexed him.
"Do you know what has happened, Ruth?" he said.
"Yes. She is upstairs."
Mr. Jansenius stared. "Do you mean to say that she has left already?"
he said. "What business has she to come here?"
"It is natural enough. Where else should she have gone?"
Mr. Jansenius, who mistrusted his own judgment when it differed from
that of his wife, replied slowly, "Why did she not go to her mother?"
Mrs. Jansenius, puzzled in her turn, looked at him with cool wonder,
and remarked, "I am her mother, am I not?"
"I was not aware of it. I am surprised to hear it, Ruth. Have you had a
letter too" I have seen the letter. But what do you mean by telling me

that you do not know I am Henrietta's mother? Are you trying to be
funny?"
"Henrietta! Is she here? Is this some fresh trouble?"
"I don't know. What are you talking about?"
"I am talking about Agatha Wylie."
"Oh! I was talking about Henrietta."
"Well, what about Henrietta?"
"What about Agatha Wylie?"
At this Mr. Jansenius became exasperated, and he deemed it best to
relate what Henrietta had told her. When she gave him Trefusis's letter,
he said, more calmly: "Misfortunes never come singly. Read that," and
handed her another letter, so that they both began reading at the same
time.
Mrs. Jansenius read as follows:
"Alton College, Lyvern.
"To Mrs. Wylie, Acacia Lodge, Chiswick.
"Dear Madam: I write with great regret to request that you will at once
withdraw Miss Wylie from Alton College. In an establishment like this,
where restraint upon the liberty of the students is reduced to a
minimum, it is necessary that the small degree of subordination which
is absolutely indispensable be acquiesced in by all without complaint or
delay. Miss Wylie has failed to comply with this condition. She has
declared her wish to leave, and has assumed an attitude towards myself
and my colleagues which we cannot, consistently with our duty to
ourselves and her fellow students, pass over. If Miss Wylie has any
cause to complain of her