"My uncle might return unexpectedly from his journey, and be angry if he did not find me at home."
"Strange! How comes it that you, who contend so earnestly for freedom, are under such strict control? Is it not somewhat of a contradiction?"
Ernestine started.
The Staatsräthin continued: "You are battling for the independence of woman, you brand as slavery a wife's obedience to her protector, and yet a man who, as I understand the case, is far more dependent upon you than you are upon him, has such complete dominion over you that you do not dare to stay from home a day without his permission."
Ernestine was again startled and surprised. "You are right. But I have grown up under his control. It has become a habit with me, so that I am hardly conscious of it, and it has never yet been so opposed to my wishes as to induce me to shake it off."
"Now, let me ask you, my dear, whether you regard this dull, half-unconscious habit of submission as nobler and loftier than the loving, voluntary obedience that a wife yields to a husband?"
Ernestine was silent for a moment, and then said with her own generous frankness, "No, it is not. But I have brought it upon myself, and cannot escape from it as long as my uncle possesses the legal right of my guardian."
"But this legal right does not in any way affect your personal freedom as long as you do not desire to do anything contrary to law."
"He always told me that the guardian was the master of the ward. And if this tyrannical regulation had not applied equally to the male and female sex, I should long ago have attacked it in my publications."
"That would not have done much good, I fear," said the Staatsräthin dryly.