'He has a business, and lives with gentlemen. He is Everett's
friend. He is well educated;--oh, so much better than most men
that one meets. And he is clever. Papa, I wish you knew him
better than you do.'

'I do not want to know him better.'

'Is not that prejudice, papa?'

'My dear Emily,' said Mr Wharton, striving to wax into anger that
he might be firm against her. 'I don't think it becomes you to
ask your father such a question as that. You ought to believe
that it is the chief object of my life to do the best I can for
my children.'

'I am sure it is.'

'And you ought to feel that, as I have had a long experience in
the world, my judgement about a young man might be trusted.'

That was a statement which Miss Wharton was not prepared to
admit. She had already professed herself willing to submit to
her father's judgement, and did not now by any means contemplate
rebellion against parental authority. But she did feel that on a
matter so vital to her she had a right to plead her cause before
judgement should be given, and she was not slow to assure
herself, even as this interview went on, that her love for the
man was strong enough to entitle her to assure her father that
her happiness depended on his reversal of the sentence already