t's just the trouble. I'm not a star,
like Tom, but I love work, and want to do some good with my education.
I should be simply miserable settling down at home with no occupation
but to pay calls, or do poker work and sewing; yet that's what my
parents expect me to do. They are rich, and can't understand why I
should want to work when there is no necessity. I may persuade them to
send me abroad for a year or so for languages and music, but even then I
should be only twenty, and I can't settle down to vegetate at twenty.
It's unreasonable to send a girl to a school where she is kept on the
alert, body and mind, every hour of the day, and then expect her to be
content to browse for the rest of her life! Now, what ought one to do
in my position? _I_ want one thing; _they_ want another. Whose duty is
it to give way?"

She looked at Tom as she spoke, but Tom swung her feet to and fro, and
went on munching plum-cake and staring into space with imperturbable
unconsciousness. Bertha called her sharply to attention.

"Tom! answer, can't you? I was speaking to you."

"Rather not, my dear. Ask someone else; some wise old Solomon who has
had experience."

"No, thank you. I know beforehand what he would say. `Submission, my
child, submission! Parents always know best. Young people are always
obstinate and hot-headed. Be ruled! Be guided! In time to come you
will see'--Yah!" cried Bertha, with a sudden outburst of irritation.
"I'm sick of it! I've had it dinned into my ears all my life, and I
want to hear someone appreciate the other side for a change. I'm young;
I've got all my life to live. If I were a boy I should be allowed to
choose. Surely! surely, I ought to have _some_ say in my own affairs!
Don't shirk now, Tom, but speak out and say what you think. If you are
going to be a Principal you ought to be able to give advice, and I
really do need it!"

"Ye-es!" said Tom slowly. "But you needn't have given me such a poser
to start with. It's a problem my dear, that has puzzled many a girl
before you, and many a parent, too. The worst of it is that there is so
much to be said on both sides. I could make out an excellent brief for
each; and, while I think of it, it wouldn't be half a bad subject to
discuss some day at our Debating Society: `To what extent is a girl
justified in deciding on her own career, in opposition to the wishes of
her parents?' Make a note of that someone, will you? It will come i