ncern. She reached the second item of the
so-called unfavourable news; and her face flushed as she read how the
doctor had learnt 'that there was something in your path worse than
narrow means, and that something is a woman.'

'To save you, if possible, from ruin on these heads,' she read on, 'I
take the preventive measures entailed below.'

And then followed the announcement of the 600 pounds a year settled on
the youth for life, on the single condition that he remained unmarried
till the age of twenty-five--just as Swithin had explained to her. She
next learnt that the bequest was for a definite object--that he might
have resources sufficient to enable him to travel in an inexpensive way,
and begin a study of the southern constellations, which, according to the
shrewd old man's judgment, were a mine not so thoroughly worked as the
northern, and therefore to be recommended. This was followed by some
sentences which hit her in the face like a switch:--

'The only other preventive step in my power is that of exhortation. . . .
Swithin St. Cleeve, don't make a fool of yourself, as your father did. If
your studies are to be worth anything, believe me they must be carried on
without the help of a woman. Avoid her, and every one of the sex, if you
mean to achieve any worthy thing. Eschew all of that sort for many a
year yet. Moreover, I say, the lady of your acquaintance avoid in
particular. . . . She has, in addition to her original disqualification
as a companion for you (that is, that of sex), these two special
drawbacks: she is much older than yourself--'

Lady Constantine's indignant flush forsook her, and pale despair
succeeded in its stead. Alas, it was true. Handsome, and in her prime,
she might be; but she was too old for Swithin!

'And she is so impoverished. . . . Beyond this, frankly, I don't think
well of her. I don't think well of any woman who dotes upon a man
younger than herself. . . . To care to be the first fancy of a young
fellow like you shows no great common sense in her. If she were worth
her salt she would have too much pride to be intimate with a youth in
your unassured position, to say no more.' (Viviette's face by this time
tingled hot again.) 'She is old enough to know that a liaison with her
may, and almost certainly would, be your ruin; and, on the other hand,
that a marriage would be preposterous--unless she is a complete fool; and
in that case there is even more reason for