“If I could send her anywhere else he would think it his duty to go and see her, he would have to know how she was doing—pay her bills, and so forth. There’s no one else to be a father to her. Mrs. Brush leaves everything with him. She has no knowledge of any world outside of that village.”
“Perhaps she is trying to catch him for Judith.”
“Such a worldly thought would never enter her dear, pretty, simple, shrewd head. She has her catch, and she didn’t catch him with guile. She would rather keep Judith than set her on the throne of England. That’s out of the question.”
“Well, I do see that point about bringing her here. He can see her naturally here; nothing to thwart him; she’s such a girl, no older than Martha—you never have any scares about Martha.”
“Martha has never been thrown so with anybody, I wouldn’t allow it. I try to be always on the safe side?”
“You didn’t seem to be on Judith’s safe side.”
“I couldn’t. Nobody asked me. There she was studying at the parsonage, before I knew it.”
“She was only a child then.”
“And I thought it such a good outlet for Marion—it was one of the first things that roused her—that and her Outing Society. My only fear was that she was taking Judith up for the sake of her Cousin Don. His influence somehow seems to run through everything. But I know better now. Judith won her own way. But I didn’t know I was sacrificing Roger to Marion.”
“How could you have hindered?”