THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 161 it, Isabel will learn it when she is really thrown upon the world, and it would be very painful to me to think of her coming to the consciousness of a lot of wants that she should be unable to satisfy." " I have left her five thousand pounds. She can satisfy a good many wants with that." " She can indeed. But she would probably spend it in two or three years." " You think she would be extravagant then 1 " " Most certainly," said Ealph, smiling serenely. Poor Mr. Touchett's acuteness was rapidly giving place to pure confusion. " It would merely be a question of time, then, her spending the larger sum 1 " "No, at first I think she would plunge into that pretty freely ; she would probably make over a part of it to each of her sisters. But after that she would come to her senses, remember that she had still a lifetime before her, and live within her means." " Well, you have worked it out," said the old man, with a sigh. " You do take an interest in her, certainly." " You can't consistently say I go too far. You wished me to go further." "Well, I don't know," the old man answered. "I don't think I enter into your spirit. It seems to me immoral." " Immoral, dear daddy 1 " " Well, I don't know that it's right to make everything so easy for a person." " It surely depends upon the person. When the person is good, your making things easy is all to the credit of virtue. To facilitate the execution of good impulses, what can be a nobler acU" This was a little difficult to follow, and Mr. Touchett con- sidered it for a while. At last he said " Isabel is a sweet young girl ; but do you think she is as good as thaU" " She is as good as her best opportunities," said Ealph. " Well," Mr. Touchett declared, " she ought to get a great many opportunities for sixty thousand pounds." " I have no doubt she will." " Of course I will do what you want," said the old man. " I only want to understand it a little." "Well, dear daddy, don't you understand it now 1 ?" his son asked, caressingly. "If you don't, we won't take any more trouble about it ; we will leave it alone." M
