His wife frowned at him. "Good gracious, Oswald, what an unpractical suggestion! I'm sure Joan wouldn't like it at all; she'd feel that she was living on charity. I should, in her place; the Routledges have always been very independent, high-spirited people."
Joan flushed. "Thank you awfully, Uncle Oswald, for wanting me, but I don't think it would do," she said hastily.
"Of course not," Aunt Ann agreed. "Now, the point is, Joan, have you got anything in view?"
During the pause that ensued Joan racked her brain for some dignified and convincing reply. It seemed incredible to her that she had not got anything in view, that out of all the innumerable advertisements she had been unable to find one that seemed really suitable. Her aunt's eyes were scanning her face with curiosity.
"I thought you were always considered the clever one," she remarked.
Joan laughed rather bitterly. "That was centuries ago, Aunt Ann. The world has progressed since then."
"Do you mean to say that you feel unfitted for any of the careers now open to women?" inquired her aunt incredulously.
"That's precisely what I do feel. You see one needs experience or a business education for most things, and if you're going to teach, of course you must have a degree. I've neither the time nor the money to begin all over again at forty-five."
Mrs. Blane settled herself more comfortably in her chair. "This requires thought," she murmured.
"There's just a faint chance that I might get taken on at a shop," Joan told her. "But I'm rather old for that too, and there's the standing."