he girl sat weaving her fingers together.
She met her father's questioning eye and did not waver.

"I don't presume to question what you say," she said. "But I am no
longer a spoiled child to be petted and persuaded. I am a woman and
have begun to think. This marriage, though brought about in so
ridiculous a way, has had a wonderful effect upon me. I have heard
that marriage merges a woman's identity with that of her husband, but
this marriage has made an individual of me. It has freed me from
frivolous company; it has given me something that I once thought I
could not endure--solitude--and I have found it delightful. The hard
and stubborn things that were beat into my head at school, and which
I despised at the time, are useful pieces of knowledge now, and,
viewing them, I wonder that I could ever have been so silly as to find
my greatest pleasure in flattery."

Never before had she spoken at such length, nor with an air so
serious. Her mother looked at her with a half wondering admiration,
and the banker's countenance showed a new-born pride in her--in
himself, indeed--for nothing in his household was important unless it
showed a light reflected from him; and now, in his daughter, he
discovered a part of himself, a disposition to think. This thought was
seditious, and there is virtue in even a rebellious strength, and it
convinced him that henceforth he must address her reason rather than a
feminine whim. He was proud of her, admitted it to himself and
conveyed it in a look which he gave his wife; but he was not the less
determined to carry his point. Sawyer was a man of affairs. His
judgment was sure, his spirit adventurous. Figures were his
playthings, and who could say that he was not to become one of the
country's great financiers? Once he had made a bid against many
competitors acquainted with the work, to build a bridge for the
county. Sawyer's bid was the lowest. His friends said that the
undertaking would ruin him; McElwin deplored the young man's rashness.
But he built the bridge, made money on the speculation; and the first
traffic across the new structure was a drove of Sawyer's mules, en
route to a profitable market.

"I am glad you have begun to think," he said, smiling at her. "I knew
the time would come, and, as it has come, let me ask you a question.
Did you request this Mr. Lyman to sign the petition?"

"I mentioned it to him."

"You did. That ought to have been sufficient. What did he say?"