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Words: 159320 in 32 pages
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IN TRUST.
FATHER AND DAUGHTER.
'My dear, the case is as plain as noonday; you must give this man up.'
'The case is not plain to me, father--at least, not in your sense.'
'Would he not be more unworthy the name of gentleman if he had done things which he could not confide to me?' said Anne; then reddening suddenly, she added, 'And even if it were so, father, if in those days he had done things unfit for my ears, let him be silent; I will not ask any questions: I know what he is now.'
Anne was silent. It was not that she was convinced, but that her indignation took words from her. She could not make any reply to such calumnies; and this was troublesome to her father, who preferred an argument to a distinct and unsupported statement. He looked at her for a moment, baffled, feeling himself cut short in the full flow of utterance--then picked up the thread again, and resumed:
'You would be a fool to trust in any man in that unguarded way: and above all in a lawyer. They are all rogues; it is in them. When did you ever hear a good word spoken for that class of men? I will not consent to any such nonsense: and if you act without my consent, you know the consequence. I will not give your mother's money to maintain in luxury a man who is--who will be--never mind! You shall not have it. I will give it to Rose, as I have the power.'
'You would not be so unjust,' said Anne.
'Unjust! I will do it if you defy me in this way. Rose has always been a better child to me than you have been; and she shall have the money if you don't mind.'
Whoever had looked at Anne Mountford then would not have given much for the chance of her submission. She said nothing, but her upper lip shut down upon the lower with an unrelenting, immovable determination. She would not even add a word to her protest against the possibility of the injustice with which she had been threatened. She was too proud to repeat herself; she stood still, unbending, betraying no impatience, ready to receive with calmness everything that might be said to her, but firm as the house upon its foundations, or the hills that are called everlasting. Her father knew something of the character of his eldest child; he knew very well that no small argument would move her, but perhaps he was not aware how far beyond his power she was. He looked at her, however, with a passionate annoyance very different from her calm, and with something vindictive and almost spiteful in his reddish-grey eyes. Most likely he had felt himself dashed against the wall of her strong will before now, and had been exasperated by the calm force of opposition which he could make no head against.
'You hear what I say,' he repeated roughly; 'if you insist, I shall exercise the right your mother gave me; I shall alter my will: and the fortune which is no doubt your chief attraction in this man's eyes--the fortune he has been calculating upon--I will give to Rose. You hear what I say?'
'Yes,' said Anne. She bowed her head gravely; no doubt that she understood him, and equally no doubt that what he said had moved her as much as a shower of rain might have done, and that she was fully determined to take her own way.
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