The Emancipated | Page 8

on terms of easy correspondence.
But doesn't Cecily herself throw any light on that point?"
Mallard made a pause before answering.
"You must remember that I know very little of her. I have never spoken
more intimately with her than you yourself have. Naturally, since she
has ceased to be a child, I have kept my distance. In fact, I shall be
heartily glad when the next three years are over, and we can shake
hands with a definite good-bye."
"What irritates you?" inquired Spence, with a smile which recognized a
phase of his friend's character.
"The fact of my position. A nice thing for a fellow like me to have
charge of a fortune! It oppresses me--the sense of responsibility; I want
to get the weight off my shoulders. What the deuce did her father mean
by burdening me in this way?"
"He foresaw nothing of the kind," said Spence, amused. "Only the
unlikely event of Trench's death left you sole trustee. If Doran purposed
anything at all--why, who knows what it may have been?"
Mallard refused to meet the other's look; his eyes were fixed on the
horizon.
"All the same, the event was possible, and he should have chosen
another man of business. It's worse than being rich on my own account.
I have dreams of a national repudiation of debt; I imagine
dock-companies failing and banks stopping payment. It disturbs my
work; I am tired of it. Why can't I transfer the affair to some
trustworthy and competent person; yourself, for instance? Why didn't
Doran select you, to begin with--the natural man to associate with
Trench?"
"Who never opened a book save his ledger; who was the model of a
reputable dealer in calicoes; who--"
"I apologize," growled Mallard. "But you know in what sense I spoke."
"Pray, what has Cecily become since I saw her in London?" asked the
other, after a pause, during which he smiled his own interpretation of
Mallard's humour.
"A very superior young person, I assure you," was the reply, gravely
spoken. "Miss Doran is a young woman of her time; she ranks with the
emancipated; she is as far above the Girton girl as that interesting

creature is above the product of an establishment for young ladies. Miss
Doran has no prejudices, and, in the vulgar sense of the word, no
principles. She is familiar with the Latin classics and with the Parisian
feuilletons; she knows all about the newest religion, and can tell you
Sarcey's opinion of the newest play. Miss Doran will discuss with you
the merits of Sarah Bernhardt in 'La Dame aux Camelias,' or the literary
theories of the brothers Goncourt. I am not sure that she knows much
about Shakespeare, but her appreciation of Baudelaire is exquisite. I
don't think she is naturally very cruel, but she can plead convincingly
the cause of vivisection. Miss Doran--"
Spence interrupted him with a burst of laughter.
"All which, my dear fellow, simply means that you--"
Mallard, in his turn, interrupted gruffly.
"Precisely: that I am the wrong man to hold even the position of
steward to one so advanced. What have I to do with heiresses and
fashionable ladies? I have my work to get on with, and it shall not
suffer from the intrusion of idlers."
"I see you direct your diatribe half against Mrs. Lessingham. How has
she annoyed you?"
"Annoyed me? You never were more mistaken. It's with myself that I
am annoyed."
"On what account?"
"For being so absurd as to question sometimes whether my
responsibility doesn't extend beyond stock and share. I ask myself
whether Doran--who so befriended me, and put such trust in me, and
paid me so well in advance for the duties I was to undertake-- didn't
take it for granted that I should exercise some influence in the matter of
his daughter's education? Is she growing up what he would have
wished her to be? And if--"
"Why, it's no easy thing to say what views he had on this subject. The
lax man, we know, is often enough severe with his own womankind.
But as you have given me no description of what Cecily really is, I can
offer no judgment. Wait till I have seen her. Doubtless she fulfils her
promise of being beautiful?"
"Yes; there is no denying her beauty."
"As for her modonite, why, Mr. Ross Mallard is a singular person to
take exception on that score."

"I don't know about that. When did I say that the modern woman was
my ideal?"
"When had you ever a good word for the system which makes of
woman a dummy and a kill-joy?"
"That has nothing to do with the question," replied Mallard, preserving
a tone of gruff impartiality. "Have I been faithful to my stewardship?
When