"There has been nothing hasty about it," Mary said as she kissed the speaker. "Believe me, I am not doing anything that is rash. And as to the rest, I am going very soon indeed. In fact I expect to sleep in London tonight."
[CHAPTER XXXIV.]
MISTRESS OF HERSELF
It was all working out now exactly as Ralph had hoped and wished for. Never had he admired Mary quite so much as he did at that moment. And yet his heart smote him as he realised that after all there was something akin to harshness in his action. Still, the case would have been very much the same had he declared his identity and proclaimed the fact that he was the proper owner of Dashwood Hall.
Mary would in that case have remained in much the same position, though the situation would have perhaps lacked its present dramatic features. Mary stood there with a proud look on her face; she was ready to meet the world and conquer it single-handed. How many bright strong young lives had set forth with the same cheerfulness and failed! Still, it was a step in the right direction, Ralph thought.
"Had you not better give the thing further consideration?" he said. "In the ways of the world you are little better than a child. Of your courage and resolution there is no doubt. But there are other qualities needed to make a living today. You must have a good knowledge of some business or profession."
"I can paint," Mary said. "Many people have told me that I should have made an artist if I had had to earn my own living."
Ralph nodded grimly. He had seen several of the girl's drawings. There was no necessity to point out the vast difference between the best efforts of the amateur and the finished work of the professional, tricks of the trade learned frequently after years of bitter struggling.
It seemed a pity to discourage Mary at the outset of her career. And Ralph was not anxious for the girl's success. He turned the situation over rapidly in his mind.
"You can try," he said. "There is a friend of mine, the daughter of a once famous general officer who gets her living by working for the cheap illustrated papers. She has no great talent, but she manages to get a living. If you like, I will write to her and ask her to----"