第17章

'Is he a bad man, papa?'

'Who knows? I cannot tell.He may be ever so bad.How is one to know whether a man be bad or good when one knows nothing about him?' At this point the father got up and walked about the room.

'The long and the short of it is that you must not see him any more.'

'Did you tell him so?'

'Yes;--well; I don't know whether I said exactly that, but Itold him that the whole thing must come to an end.And it must.

Luckily it seems that nothing has been said on either side.'

'But papa;--is there to be no reason?'

'Haven't I given reasons? I will not have my daughter encourage an adventurer,--a man of whom nobody knows anything.That is reason sufficient.'

'He has a business, and lives with gentlemen.He is Everett's friend.He is well educated;--oh, so much better than most men that one meets.And he is clever.Papa, I wish you knew him better than you do.'

'I do not want to know him better.'

'Is not that prejudice, papa?'

'My dear Emily,' said Mr Wharton, striving to wax into anger that he might be firm against her.'I don't think it becomes you to ask your father such a question as that.You ought to believe that it is the chief object of my life to do the best I can for my children.'

'I am sure it is.'

'And you ought to feel that, as I have had a long experience in the world, my judgement about a young man might be trusted.'

That was a statement which Miss Wharton was not prepared to admit.She had already professed herself willing to submit to her father's judgement, and did not now by any means contemplate rebellion against parental authority.But she did feel that on a matter so vital to her she had a right to plead her cause before judgement should be given, and she was not slow to assure herself, even as this interview went on, that her love for the man was strong enough to entitle her to assure her father that her happiness depended on his reversal of the sentence already pronounced.'You know, papa, that I trust you,' she said, 'And Ihave promised you that I will not disobey you.If you tell me that I am never to see Mr Lopez again, I will not see him.'

'You are a good girl.You were always a good girl.'

'But I think that you ought to hear me.' Then he stood still with his hands in his trouser pockets looking at her.He did not want to hear a word, but he felt that he would be a tyrant if he refused.'If you tell me that I am not to see him, I shall not see him.But I shall be very unhappy.I do love him, and Ishall never love anyone else in the same way.'

'That is nonsense, Emily.There is Arthur Fletcher.'

'I am sure you will never ask me to marry a man I do not love, and I shall never love Arthur Fletcher.If this is to be as you say, it will make me very, very wretched.It is right that you should know the truth.If it is only because Mr Lopez has a foreign name--'

'It isn't only that; no one knows anything about him, or where one might inquire even.'

'I think you should inquire, papa, and be quite certain before you pronounce such a sentence against me.It will be a crushing blow.' He looked at her, and saw that there was a fixed purpose in her countenance of which he had never before seen similar signs.'You claim a right to my obedience, and I acknowledge it.

I am sure you believe me when I promise not to see him without your permission.'

'I do believe you.Of course I believe you.'

'But if I do that for you, papa, I think that you ought to be very sure, on my account, that I haven't to bear such unhappiness for nothing.You'll think about it, papa,--will you not, before you quite decide?' She leaned against him as she spoke, and he kissed her.'Good night, now, papa.You will think about it?'

'I will.I will.Of course I will.'

And he began the process of thinking about it immediately,--before the door was closed behind her.But what was there to think about? Nothing that she had said altered in the least his idea about the man.He was convinced as ever that unless there was much to conceal there would not be so much concealment.

But a feeling began to grow upon him already that his daughter had a mode of pleading with him which he would not ultimately be able to resist.He had the power, he knew, of putting an end to the thing altogether.He had only to say resolutely and unchangeably that the thing shouldn't be, and it wouldn't.If he could steel his heart against his daughter's sorrow for, say, a twelvemonth, the victory would be won.But he already began to fear that he lacked the power to steel his heart against his daughter.