Mrs Oliphant

In Trust; the Story of a Lady and her Lover Mrs Oliphant

'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.''Anne, you are very positive and self-opinionated, but you cannot-it is not possible-set up your judgment against mine on such a point. You, an inexperienced, prejudiced girl, a rustic with no knowledge of the world! What do you know about the man? Oh, I allow he is well enough to look at; he has had the usual amount of education, and so forth; but what do you know about him? that is what I ask.''Not much, father, ' said Anne, steadily; 'but I know him.''Stuff! you, a girl not much over twenty, know a man! Does he tell you, do you suppose, all the adventures of his life? Does he confess his sins to you? A young fellow that has been trained at a public school, that has been at the university, that has knocked about the world-is he going to confide all that to you? He would be unworthy the name of gentleman if he did.''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.''Oh, stuff, I tell you! stuff and nonsense, child! You know what he is now! Yes, what he is when his best coat is on, when he is going to church with his hymn-book in his pocket and you on his arm; that is a very edifying aspect of him; but if you think that is all, or nearly all--'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: ...