“And what do you think of your new charge?” she asked. “I don’t know whether Peter quite understands that yet. The young squire goes to the men. He casts aside childish things, and rides out in his little Caparison to join the ranks. Do you know that, Peter? Mr. Sydenham is now your sole guardian.”
Peter looked at Oswald and smiled shyly, and his cheeks flushed.
“I think we shall get on together,” said Oswald.
“Would that it ended there! You take the girl too?”
“It is not my doing,” said Oswald.
Aunt Phœbe addressed the Weald.
“Poor Dolly! So it is that the mother soul cheats itself. Through the ages—always self-abnegation for the woman.” She turned to Oswald. “If she had had time to think I am certain she would not have excluded women from this trust. Certain. What have men to do with education? With the education of a woman more particularly. The Greater from the Less. But the thing is done. It has been a great experiment, a wonderful experiment; teaching, I learnt—but I doubt if you will understand that.”
There was a slight pause. “What exactly was the nature of the experiment?” asked Oswald modestly.
“Feminine influence. Dominant.”
Oswald considered. “I don’t know if you include Lady Charlotte,” he threw out.