in a child of hers.
Yet in the end her ancestral prejudices so far yielded as to allow of
her smiling at sentiments which she once heard with horror. Maurice,
whom she loved more tenderly, all but taught her to see the cogency of
a syllogism--amiably set forth. And Louis, with his indolent
good-nature, laughed her into a tolerance of many things which had
moved her indignation. But it was to Sidwell that in the end she owed
most. Beneath the surface of ordinary and rather backward girlhood,
which discouraged her father's hopes, Sidwell was quietly developing a
personality distinguished by the refinement of its ethical motives. Her
orthodoxy seemed as unimpeachable as Mrs Warricombe could desire, yet
as she grew into womanhood, a curiosity, which in no way disturbed the
tenor of her quietly contented life, led her to examine various forms
of religion, ancient and modern, and even systems of philosophy which
professed to establish a moral code, independent of supernatural faith.
She was not of studious disposition--that is to say, she had never
cared as a schoolgirl to do more mental work than was required of her,
and even now it was seldom that she read for more than an hour or two
in the day. Her habit was to dip into books, and meditate long on the
first points which arrested her thoughts. Of continuous application she
seemed incapable. She could read French, but did not attempt to pursue
the other languages of which her teachers had given her a smattering.
It pleased her best when she could learn from conversation. In this way
she obtained some insight into her father's favourite sciences,
occasionally making suggestions or inquiries which revealed a subtle if
not an acute intelligence.

Little by little Mrs. Warricombe found herself changing places with the
daughter whom she had regarded as wholly subject to her direction.
Sidwell began to exercise an indeterminate control, the proofs of which
were at length manifest in details of her mother's speech and
demeanour. An exquisite social tact, an unfailing insensibly as the
qualities of pure air: these were the points of sincerity of moral
judgment, a gentle force which operated as character to which Mrs.
Warricombe owed the humanisation observable when one compared her in
1885 with what she was, say, in 1874, when the sight of Professor Walsh
moved her to acrimony, and when she conceived a pique against Professor
Gale because the letter P has alphabetical precedence o