I little thought I was running the risk of
such a contingency as this."
"It _is_ hard, Josephine," I murmured, wishing to be sympathetic. "I
think, though, you are a little premature in taking it for granted that
Winona will not come round all right in the end."
My darling shook her head. "She may consent to go about in order to
please me, but her heart will never be in it. Oh, I know!" she added,
with another outburst, as though she were arguing with an accusing
spirit, "that society is all very frivolous in theory and a waste of
time, and that the moralists and people who never had the chance to go
anywhere would tell me I ought to be thankful to have a daughter who
cares for something besides going to balls and dinner-parties and
flirting with young men. That's the way they would look at it; but
they might argue until they were black in the face and they couldn't
make me feel otherwise than disappointed. And, what is more, I believe
that Winona will be very sorry herself ten years hence if she
perseveres in her present determination."
These last words were spoken by my wife almost tragically, and it was
evident to me that they proceeded from the heart. I am free to confess
that when Josephine gives utterance to opinions with so much
earnestness as this I cannot help feeling that there must be more or
less truth in them.
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