Mona laughed.
"What a born reformer you are!" she said admiringly.
"I suppose I am. In other words, I shall never be a successful doctor. Kismet! I don't see how any honest man can live in this world and not be a reformer."
"Don't you? Oh, I do."
Miss Lascelles glanced round the pretty room.
"I almost envy you," she said. "It must be very pleasant to be able to shut one's eyes to abuses, and eat one's pudding in comfort."
"Ay, or to shut one's eyes to one's father's shortcomings, and make the best of them."
"It is not the shortcomings I object to, it is the false pretensions. Give me honesty at all costs. Let everything be open and above-board."
"Honesty—honesty—honesty!" said Mona. "I sometimes think I hate honesty; it is so often another name for ingratitude and brutality. I care more for loyalty than for all the other virtues put together. It is the loyal souls who prepare the way for the reformer. His actual work is often nothing more than the magnificent thrust with which a child knocks down a castle of cards."
"I believe in loyalty, too; but let us be loyal to the right, not loyal to the wrong."