"Elizabeth, do you think Mother would ever consent?"
"I don't know; you have the brain to do it if you choose."
"But suppose it made her unhappy?"
"Why should it? She'll probably be very proud of you if you make good—in any case you'll have to leave her if you marry."
"But it might—oh! can't you see that it might make her unhappy, dreadfully unhappy?"
"What do you feel about it yourself, Joan; are you ambitious, I mean?"
Joan was silent for a moment, then she said: "I don't think I am really ambitious. I mean I don't think that I could ever push everything aside for the sake of some big idea; I hate being hurt and hurting, and I think you've got to do that if you're really ambitious; but I want to go on working, frightfully."
"Well, you'll probably get through your exam, all right."
"And if I do, what then?"
"Then your Oxford Local, I suppose."