Hitherto, Mr.Trench, the elder trustee, who lived in Manchester, had alone been in personal relations with Mrs.Elgar and little Cecily; even now Mallard did not make the personal acquaintance of Mrs.Elgar (otherwise he would doubtless have met Miriam), but saw Mrs.Lessingham in London, and for the first time met Cecily when she came to the south in her aunt's care.

He knew what an extreme change would be made in the manner of the girl's education, and it caused him some mental trouble; but it was clear that Cecily might benefit greatly in health by travel, and, as for the moral question, Mrs.Lessingham strongly stirred his sympathies by the dolorous account she gave of the child's surroundings in the north.

Cecily was being intellectually starved; that seemed clear to Mallard himself after a little conversation with her.

It was wonderful how much she had already learnt, impelled by sheer inner necessity, of things which in general she was discouraged from studying.

So Cecily left England, to return only for short intervals, spent in London.