Don't you find you can most completely depend upon her ?' 'Oh yes,' I said; 'certainly.

I nearly always know what she is going to say before she says it, and under given circumstances I can tell precisely what she will do.' 'I fancy her sense of duty is very beautifully developed.' 'It is,' I said.

'There is hardly a day when I do not come in contact with it.' 'Well, that is surely a good thing.

And I find that calm poise of hers very restful.' 'I would not have believed that so many virtues could reside in one young lady,' I said, taking refuge in flippancy, 'and to think that she should be my daughter!' 'As I believe you know, that seems to me rather a cruel stroke of destiny, Mrs.Farnham.' 'Oh yes, I know! You have a constructive imagination, Dacres.

You don't seem to see that the girl is protected by her limitations, like a tortoise.