"You want me to undo the last twelve years of her training."
"Not at all. I am quite satisfied with her training, but if she is to be a Westerner it has to be given a more definite direction; it cannot continue on Chinese lines. There will not be much shock now; there would be tremendous shock a few years later."
"Yes, I was prepared for all these arguments," said Herrick, "and for a few more as well. By living with your sister, Nancy would come to know you better; you in turn would have a better acquaintance with her. Yes, I know all these arguments. And suppose, after this mutual acquaintance, you found your tastes growing farther and farther apart, what would you do to remedy the situation?"
"Break the engagement."
"No, that's not my notion of a betrothal. That simply transfers Nancy from my care, puts her at the mercy of all the accidents which may occur in your sister's home, possible jealousies or gossip or misunderstanding,—you know the things I mean,—and leaves her with the chance of a broken engagement at the end. Then what would she be fit for? Do you expect her to go out and capture a husband as your Western women do or come back to the Chinese life she has unlearned?"
"At least, it is better," protested Nasmith, "to discover uncongenial tastes before marriage than afterward."
"Not at all. After marriage you have made your bargain. You have no choice but to make your tastes congenial. Have you forgotten your old proverb about necessity? It's when people have the option of being uncongenial that they look for excuses to quarrel just to assert their freedom. If I sent Nancy to you in a red chair to-morrow, I haven't the slightest doubt that she would prove congenial. It would be your duty to see that she did."
"You don't really wish me to marry her now?" demanded Nasmith, somewhat disconcerted, "a girl of seventeen."
"A girl of sixteen," Herrick corrected. "No, indeed I don't wish you to marry her now. I don't wish to surrender her a day before she is twenty, that is, if my heart holds out. If I die, she goes to you at once and Edward with her—he will be suitably provided for. But while I live or until she is twenty Nancy remains with me."
"And you expect me to consent to betrothal on these terms?"