had been greatly relieved to be spared
all the care of the baby, and as the years went on, the arrangement
seemed more and more convenient, and she gave little thought to the
character that was being formed. To Mr. Mavick, indeed, as to his wife,
it was enough to see that she was uncommonly intelligent, and that she
had a certain charm that made her attractive. Mrs. Mavick took it for
granted that when it came time to introduce her into the world she would
be like other girls, eager for its pleasures and susceptible to all its
allurements. Of the direction of the undercurrents of the girl's life
she had no conception, until she began to unfold to her the views of the
world that prevailed in her circle, and what (in the Carmen scheme of
life) ought to be a woman's ambition.

That she was to be an heiress Evelyn had long known, that she would
one day have a great fortune at her disposal had indeed come into her
serious thought, but the brilliant use of it in relation to herself,
at which her mother was always lately hinting, came to her as a
disagreeable shock. For the moment the fortune seemed to her rather
a fetter than an opportunity, if she was to fulfill her mother's
expectations. These hints were conveyed with all the tact of which her
mother was master, but the girl was nevertheless somewhat alarmed,
and she began to regard the "coming out" as an entrance into servitude
rather than an enlargement of liberty. One day she surprised Miss
McDonald by asking her if she didn't think that rich people were the
only ones not free to do as they pleased?

"Why, my dear, it is not generally so considered. Most people fancy that
if they had money enough they could do anything."

"Yes, of course," said the girl, putting down her stitching and looking
up; "that is not exactly what I mean. They can go in the current, they
can do what they like with their money, but I mean with themselves.
Aren't they in a condition that binds them half the time to do what they
don't wish to do?"

"It's a condition that all the world is trying to get into."

"I know. I've been talking with mamma about the world and about society,
and what is expected and what you must live up to."

"But you have always known that you must one day go into the world and
take your share in life."

"That, yes. But I would rather live up to myself. Mamma seems to think
that society will do a great deal for me, that I will get a wider view
of life, that I can do