She remembered the gentleman who had come up to her
in the music-room, after Miss Tarrant's address, while she was talking
with Olive, and to whom that young lady had given so cold a welcome. "I
don't mean any one in particular; but, for instance, there is the young
man to whom she asked me to send an invitation to my party, and who
looked to me like a possible admirer." Mrs. Burrage also got up; then
she stood a moment, closer to her visitor. "Don't you think it's a good
deal to expect that, young, pretty, attractive, clever, charming as she
is, you should be able to keep her always, to exclude other affections,
to cut off a whole side of life, to defend her against dangers--if you
call them dangers--to which every young woman who is not positively
repulsive is exposed? My dear young lady, I wonder if I might give you
three words of advice?" Mrs. Burrage did not wait till Olive had
answered this inquiry; she went on quickly, with her air of knowing
exactly what she wanted to say and feeling at the same time that, good
as it might be, the manner of saying it, like the manner of saying most
other things, was not worth troubling much about. "Don't attempt the
impossible. You have got hold of a good thing; don't spoil it by trying
to stretch it too far. If you don't take the better, perhaps you will
have to take the worse; if it's safety you want I should think she was
much safer with my son--for with us you know the worst--than as a
possible prey to adventurers, to exploiters, or to people who, once they
had got hold of her, would shut her up altogether.
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