'
'Then you cannot have thought much either of your position or of
mine.'
'He is a gentleman, papa.'
'So is my private secretary. There is not a clerk in one of our
public offices who does not consider himself to be a gentleman.
The curate of the parish is a gentleman, and the medical man who
comes here from Bradstock. The word is too vague to carry with it
any meaning that ought to be serviceable to you in thinking of
such a matter.'
'I do not know of any other way of dividing people,' said she,
showing thereby that she had altogether made up her mind as to
what ought to be serviceable to her.
'You are not called upon to divide people. That division requires
so much experience that you are bound in this matter to rely upon
those to whom your obedience is due. I cannot but think you must
have known that you were not entitled to give your love to any man
without being assured that the man would be approved of by--by--by
me.' He was going to say 'your parents', but was stopped by the
remembrance of his wife's imprudence.
She saw it all, and was too noble to plead her mother's authority.
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