Alice Duer Miller

“ Well, I need not remind you that no one is made happy merely by things. Some continuity of inner life is absolutely necessary, not only to happiness but to health. Remember, I am speaking as a nerve specialist. You, Mrs. Royce, are an enemy to continuity. You dispel concentration as a rock dispels a wave. Even I find no little difficulty, when in your [22] presence, in pursuing a consecutive train of thought, and, as for you yourself, such a thing has long been impossible for you. ”

“ I should begin to see things, things, things, and to believe [23] that all life was merely a question of arrangements. Even your religion, Mrs. Royce, in which most people find some continuity, is a question of things—of Sunday-schools and altar decoration. That poor little clergyman who lunched here to-day—he came emanating a certain spiritual peace; but he went away crushed by your poor opinion of him as an executive. At this moment he is probably breaking up the current of his life by a conscientious attention to things. ”

“ How could you imagine that I was the cause?”
“Isn’t it suggestive that practically every one with whom you come in contact——”
“My husband,” she retorted, quoting an instance against him.
“Your husband has great natural calm, and spends eight hours a day out of the house. You have made this home, this really wonderful home, for those you love. No one admires the achievement more than I do. But you have sacrificed too much of yourself in doing it; and I’m not speaking of your physical strength. In this library, in which you are so fond of sitting, how many books have you ever read?” ”

“ Not too quickly her story began [4] to take shape. Her household, her husband, her four children—three small boys and an older daughter, a girl of seventeen....
“My only thought has been my children, Dr. Despard.”
“Your only thought, Mrs. Royce?”
She assented. The daughter was the problem—the daughter of seventeen.
“She and I have been such friends; I have always been a friend to my children, I hope, as well as a parent. And Celia’s little arrangements, her clothes and her small parties, have been as much my interests as hers—more, perhaps. ”

“ I venture to say that that child works at night, for the simple reason that to work in this house during the daytime is impossible.”
“Really,” said Mrs. Royce, “with the best will in the world I do not understand you. Celia’s friends sometimes seem to feel that I ought to neglect her manners and pronunciation, ought to allow her to become selfish and self-centred, so that she may—” She broke off as if words failed her. “But I have never heard a grown person suggest that such a course would be right.”
“Ask your clergyman what is right,” answered Despard. “I am here to tell you what is healthy ”

“ Despard?”
He drew a chair forward and sat [18] down. “No, Mrs. Royce,” he said; “I think it necessary to send you away.”
“Me?”
He bowed.
“But my health is excellent. Oh, I see,” she smiled. “My husband has been talking to you about my responsibilities. Yes, they are great, but one is given strength to do what is required of one. I shall not have to desert my post. I am strong.”
“I know you are strong, Mrs. Royce,” said he, “but you are the cause of weakness in others. We need not multiply examples: your daughter, the governess, Churchley——”
She broke in—“Of course, I admit their weakness. ”

“ Royce collected herself enough to touch the bell—it always hung within tempting reach of her hand—and gave Churchley orders to send for the motor and have the doctor’s bags brought down.
During this interval Despard walked to the window and stood looking out. It is not always so easy to apply the knife psychologically as physically. He wondered if he could have been [29] more gentle and equally effective. As he stood there Celia came sauntering across the lawn, her head bent, her hands deep in the pockets of an enveloping dun-colored coat. ”

“ The reactions have taken place too many times. I tell you to go away. We can call it a rest cure. You shall have beautiful surroundings, comfort, and, above all that leisure that recent years have failed to give you. ”