 treated as something won in a
lottery? To stay here is indeed indeed more than I can bear. And if he is
calculating - Mr. Whitford, if he calculates on another change, his plotting to
keep me here is inconsiderate, not very wise. Changes may occur in absence.«
    »Wise or not, he has the right to scheme his best to keep you.«
    She looked on Vernon with a shade of wondering reproach.
    »Why? What right?«
    »The right you admit when you ask him to release you. He has the right to
think you deluded; and to think you may come to a better mood if you remain - a
mood more agreeable to him, I mean. He has that right absolutely. You are bound
to remember also that you stand in the wrong. You confess it when you appeal to
his generosity. And every man has the right to retain a treasure in his hand if
he can. Look straight at these facts.«
    »You expect me to be all reason!«
    »Try to be. It's the way to learn whether you are really in earnest.«
    »I will try. It will drive me to worse!«
    »Try honestly. What is wisest now is, in my opinion, for you to resolve to
stay. I speak in the character of the person you sketched for yourself as
requiring. Well, then, a friend repeats the same advice. You might have gone
with your father: now you will only disturb him and annoy him. The chances are,
he will refuse to go.«
    »Are women ever so changeable as men, then? Papa consented; he agreed; he
had some of my feeling; I saw it. That was yesterday. And at night! He spoke to
each of us at night in a different tone from usual. With me he was hardly
affectionate. But when you advise me to stay, Mr. Whitford, you do not perhaps
reflect that it would be at the sacrifice of all candour.«
    »Regard it as a probational term.«
    »It has gone too far with me.«
    »Take the matter into the head: try the case there.«
    »Are you not counselling me as if I were a woman of intellect?«
    The crystal ring in her voice told him that tears were near to flowing.
    He shuddered slightly. »You have intellect,« he said, nodded, and crossed
the lawn, leaving her. He had to dress.
    She was not permitted to feel lonely, for she
