'This, doubtless, commends itself to you in the same light as to me.'
'Oh! certainly.'
Drops stood on his brow and lip. He employed the kerchief to wipe his face.
Then, with a quiver in his voice, 'Perhaps you would not mind speaking to her on the matter.'
'I have spoken; it is, excuse my plain speech, your duty to back me up. I see clearly that if she be allowed to fall under the influence of this female, it will undo all the advantage she has derived from a residence in my house. If you will pardon the liberty I take, I would advise you to dismiss this personage, to send her to her friends—with a pension perhaps.'
'She has a liberal allowance.'
'Quite so, but let her live on this allowance at a distance, and on the understanding that it will be withdrawn should she attempt to renew her relations with Winefred.'
'I—think—I am sure, I cannot do this.'
'Then suffer me to take the negotiation out of your hands; it will doubtless come better from me. Empower me to write and place the matter before her in a clear light, inform her that she must never see Winefred again. It will be solely by dissociating your child from vulgar persons that the little peculiarities in her dialect and the provincial mannerism, I note, can be effaced. You agree with me?'