“It is all right, Daniel,” said Mrs. Dott. “I guess Gertie didn't really mean what she said about taking lessons of the Dusante woman. She thought the dances graceful, and they were, of course. But Gertie is older now—yes, she is older, and she expects to have her own way more than she has had it. She said a lot of things to me, things that she hasn't said before. It seems that when she first came home she was inclined to think I had exaggerated when I wrote her about the lovely people here in Scarford, and the Chapter, and the brilliant women in it. Now, she sees I was right. She has helped me a good deal already with my Chapter work, and she means to do more. She is going to join the Chapter herself. She—why, what's the matter?”
Daniel had made a choking noise in his throat; he appeared to be strangling.
“Noth—nothin',” he gasped. “Nothin' much. I'm all right. But—but you said—why, how can Gertie join the Chapter? She ain't goin' to stay here. She's goin' back to college soon as her vacation's over.”
Serena shook her head. There was just a shade of doubt, almost of trouble, in her voice as she answered.
“No-o,” she said, “no, Daniel, she isn't. She isn't going back any more. She thinks it isn't necessary.”
“Not necessary! Why, how you talk, Serena! Not necessary to finish out her last term! What do you mean? One of the things that troubled me most, back there in Trumet before we was rich, was that I might not afford for her to finish out at that college, and now, when I can, she ain't goin'. I say she is. I say she's got to.”
“I don't believe that will make any difference, Daniel. She seems to have made up her mind. I'm kind of sorry, I must say, but she is obstinate. She says it is so much more interesting here that she is going to stay. You can talk to her, if you want to, but I don't think it will do any good.”
Serena was right; although Captain Dan did talk to his daughter his arguments and persuasions were quite useless.
“No, Daddy,” said Gertrude, “I am going to stay right here. I told you that if I were needed I should come home. I have come home and I am needed. I shall not go back. It is only the last half term, anyway.”
“Yes, but then's when the girls have all their best times, all the dances and—and entertainments and society times. You said so. Do you want to miss all those?”