"Ah, but that wouldn't solve the problem. The girl whose job you took from her would n't accept your salary from you."
"Then, just because a girl's father can support her, must she give up learning how to support herself? And the fun of doing it?"
"What do you expect the family to say about it?"
"Of course they won't like it. Except father. I think he will."
"Possibly, after you have wheedled him and hung round his neck. Well, do you feel you have a right to disappoint mother and Olive, as you will do, if you so much as begin on this course, to say nothing of sticking to it?"
Shirley was silent for a moment. Then she answered, very gently, "I should be sorry for that, of course, but I think I have the right. Devoting one's self to society can't be a duty one owes to one's family, if one does n't feel satisfied with that life. And my learning to earn my own living won't disgrace my family--not in these days of millionaire milliners and violet raisers."
"No, it won't disgrace your family. Instead, it makes one member of it sit up and look at his small sister with a good deal of respect. If you take hold of the thing, you 'll go through with it. I 've not the least doubt of that, for you 're no quitter."
"Thank you. Then will you go with me to talk with father about it?"
"When?"
"Now. He 's in the library."