He told
everyone what he believed, that his second wife was an ideal person to
bring up his little daughter.
Therefore it came upon him as a surprise when she told him she was grown
up, and still more that she wished to leave home and be a nurse. Mrs.
Clay had made no objection; the girl rather depressed her, for she felt
she ought to like her more than she did, so she 'backed up' with
apparent good nature the great desire to go out and do something.
Dulcie had inherited three hundred a year from her mother. Her father
had about the same amount of his own to live on. He believed that he
added to it by mild gambling, and perhaps by talking a good deal at his
club of how he had been born to make a fortune but had had no luck. His
second wife had no money.
Dulcie, therefore, was entirely independent. No obstacles were placed in
her way--the particular form that her ambition took was suggested by the
war, but in any case she would have done something. She had taken the
usual means of getting into a hospital.
Gentle, industrious, obedient and unselfish, she got on well. Her
prettiness gained her no enemies among the women as she was too serious
about her work at this time to make use of her beauty by attracting men.
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