gs impossible to some men. It will seem
a hard saying, but I could not endure to have you with me. I know
myself, and I can only assure you that, if your childhood has not been a
very happy one as it is, it would have been no happier if spent under my
roof. Now we have been only strangers--you would have been worse than a
stranger then.'"

Miss Driver, who had read in a low but level and composed voice, paused
here for a moment--perhaps in doubt whether to read more. Then she went
on: "'With that much excuse--for I have none other--I must now, my
daughter, say good-by, for I am dying. Though of my own choice I have
not seen you since your infancy. I have not been without thought for
you. I hesitated long before throwing on your shoulders all the burden
which I have created for my own and carried on them. But in the end
nature has seemed to say to me--and to speak more strongly as I grow
weaker--that you are the person to whom it should belong and that, if
things go wrong, it will be nature's fault, not mine. Don't spend more
than two-thirds of your income--the other third should go back to work
and bring in more. Give handsomely when you give, but don't be always
dribbling out small sums; they mount up against you without aiding the
recipients. Go to church unless you really dislike it. Be independent,
but not eccentric. You have a great position; make it greater. Be a
power in your world. About love and marriage, remember always that being
sensible in general matters is no guarantee that you will act sensibly
there. So be doubly on your guard. Suspect and fear marriage, even while
you seek the best alliance you can find. Be you man or woman, by
marriage you give another a power over you. Suspect it--suspect your
lover--suspect yourself. You need fear no man except the man to whom you
have given yourself. With earnest wishes for your welfare, I remain your
affectionate father--NICHOLAS DRIVER.'"

During the reading Cartmell's face had been disturbed and sad; once or
twice he fidgeted restively in his chair. I had listened intently,
seeming again to hear the measured full voice, the hard clean-cut
counsels, to which I had listened almost daily for the last four years.
Fine sense! And a heart somewhere? I was inclined to answer yes--but how
deep it lay, and what a lot of digging to get there! He had never given
his daughter one chance of so much as putting her hand to the spade.

She tucked the letter away in her little