Ross Mallard, for instance; no provincial Puritan could have instructed the lad more strenuously in the accepted moral code than did Mr.Doran on taking him from home to live in Manchester.

In choosing a wife, he went to a family of conventional Dissenters; and he desired his daughter to pass the years of her childhood with people who he knew would guide her in the very straitest way of Puritan doctrine.

What his theory was in this matter (if he had one) he told nobody.

Dying, he left it to the discretion of the two trustees to appoint a residence for Cecily, if for any reason she could not remain with Mrs.Elgar.This occasion soon presented itself, and Cecily passed into the care of Doran's sister, Mrs.
Lessingham, who was just entered upon a happy widowhood.

Mallard, most unexpectedly left sole trustee, had no choice but to assent to this arrangement; the only other home possible for the girl was with Miriam at Redbeck House, but Mr.Baske did not look with favour on that proposal.