on him by his wife's death, he said, was one he
had never wished to shirk by leaving his child to the care of others.
Moreover, he had had his own ideas as to the manner in which she should
be brought up, and he had put them into practice. The results had been
good in most respects, and if in others there was something still to be
desired, it was not too late to make the necessary changes, whether in
the way of supplement or correction. Indeed, in his opinion, the
psychological moment for introducing a new line of conduct had only just
arrived.

"It is often better not to force things," Diane murmured, vaguely,
"especially with the very young."

To this he agreed, though he laid down the principle that not to take
strong measures when there was need for them would be the part of
weakness. Diane having no objection to offer to this bit of wisdom, it
was possible for him to go on to explain the emergency she would be
called on to meet. Briefly, it arose from his own error in allowing
Dorothea too much liberty of judgment. While he was in favor of a
reasonable freedom for all young people, it was evident that in
this case the pendulum had been suffered to swing so far in one
directionthat it would require no small amount of effort on his part
and Diane's--chiefly on Diane's--to bring it back. In the interest of
Dorothea's happiness it was essential that the proper balance should be
established with all possible speed, even though they raised some
rebellion on her part in doing it.

He explained Dorothea's methods in creating her body-guard of young men,
as far as he understood them; he described the young people whose
society she frequented, and admitted that he was puzzled as to the
precise quality in them that shocked his views; coming to the affair
with Carli Wappinger, he spoke of it as "a bit of preposterous nonsense,
to which an immediate stop must be put." There were minor points in his
exposition; and at each one, as he made it, Diane nodded her head
gravely, to show that she followed him with understanding, and was in
sympathy with his opinion that it was "high time that some step should
be taken."

Encouraged by this intelligent comprehension, Derek went on to define
the good offices he would expect from Diane. She should come to his
house not only as Dorothea's inseparable companion, but as a sort of
warder-in-chief, armed, by his authority, with all the powers of
command. There was no use in doing things b