Page 752 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

considered a while the picture he had evoked and seemed
greatly pleased with it. And then he went on: ‘The Catho-
lics are very wise after all. The convent is a great institution;
we can’t do without it; it corresponds to an essential need
in families, in society. It’s a school of good manners; it’s a
school of repose. Oh, I don’t want to detach my daughter
from the world,’ he added; ‘I don’t want to make her fix her
thoughts on any other. This one’s very well, as she should
take it, and she may think of it as much as she likes. Only she
must think of it in the right way.’
Isabel gave an extreme attention to this little sketch; she
found it indeed intensely interesting. It seemed to show her
how far her husband’s desire to be effective was capable of
going-to the point of playing theoretic tricks on the delicate
organism of his daughter. She could not understand his pur-
pose, no-not wholly; but she understood it better than he
supposed or desired, inasmuch as she was convinced that the
whole proceeding was an elaborate mystification, addressed
to herself and destined to act upon her imagination. He had
wanted to do something sudden and arbitrary, something
unexpected and refined; to mark the difference between his
sympathies and her own, and show that if he regarded his
daughter as a precious work of art it was natural he should
be more and more careful about the finishing touches. If he
wished to be effective he had succeeded; the incident struck
a chill into Isabel’s heart. Pansy had known the convent in
her childhood and had found a happy home there; she was
fond of the good sisters, who were very fond of her, and there
was therefore for the moment no definite hardship in her lot.

752 The Portrait of a Lady