"She must always have had a wonderful character."
"For that, yes," and the Duchesse paused a moment, then went on:
"Quite a tremendous character, and as Bobby sank and poor Hilda became
more ill, and wretched, that child has risen in strength, and supported
them all. Since the war came they have almost lived upon her earnings.
The father is without conscience, and of a selfishness unspeakable! His
money all went to him for his use, and Alatheé was left to supplement
the mother's wretched two or three thousand francs a year. And now that
brute has again cheated at cards, and poor Hilda came to me in her great
distress, and remembering your words, Nicholas, I called upon you. It
would have been too cruel for the poor woman to have had to suffer
again. Hilda took the money and gave it to this infamous husband, and
the affair was settled that night. Alatheé knows nothing about it."
Light was dawning upon me. The admirable Bobby has evidently played upon
the feelings of both wife and daughter!
"Duchesse, why did you not wish me to know the real name, and would not
help me at all about 'Miss Sharp,'--won't you now tell me your reason?"
The Duchesse shaded her eyes from the fire with a hand-screen, and it
came between us, and I could not see her face, but her voice changed.
"I was greatly surprised to find the girl in your flat one day. I had
not understood with whom she was working. I was not pleased about it,
frankly, Nicholas, because one cannot help knowing of your existence and
your friends, and I feared your interest for a secretary might be as for
them, and I disliked that my godchild should run such a risk. When
jeunes filles of the world have to take up menial positions they are
of course open to such situations, and have to expect difficulties. I
wished to protect her as well as I could."
Suddenly I saw myself, and the utterly rotten life I had led, that this,
my old friend, even, could not be sure of my chivalry. I loathed the
lax, cheap honor of the world and its hypocrisy. I could not even be
indignant with the Duchesse, judging me from that standpoint. She was
right, but I did tell her that men had a slightly different angle in
looking upon such things in England, where women worked, and were
respected in all classes, and that the idea of making love to any
secretary would never have entered my head. It was the intelligence and
the dignity of Alathea herself which had made me desire her for a
companion.