The Great Miss Driver by Antonio Hope

Miss Driver stayed away longer than her words had led me to expect. London and Paris -- the names are in themselves explanation enough. The big world was entirely new to Jenny; though she could not yet take -- shall I say storm? -- her place in society, much instruction, and more amusement, lay open to her grasp even in the days of her obligatory mourning. On the other hand that same period could not but be very tedious to her if passed at Breysgate. In regard to her father's memory she felt a great curiosity and displayed a profound interest; for the man himself she could have had little affection and could entertain no real grief; in fact, though she professed and tried to forgive, she never shook herself quite clear of resentment, even though she, if anybody, ought to have come nearest to understanding his stern resolve. That nobody should ever again come so near to him, or become so much to him, as to be able sorely to wound him -- that was how I read his determination. Jenny ought to have been able to arrive at some appreciation of that. I think she did -- but she protested in her heart that his daughter should have been the one exception. No good lay in going back to the merits of that question. In the result they had been -- strangers: her mourning, then, was a matter of propriety, not the true demand of her feelings. Viewed in this light, London and Paris, surveyed from the decent obscurity of a tourist, offered a happy compromise -- and bridged a yawning gulf -- between duty and the endurable.

Meanwhile the Great Seal was in Commission; Cartmell, Loft, and I administered the Kingdom -- Cartmell Foreign Affairs, Loft the Interior, I the Royal Cabinet. Cartmell's sphere was the largest by far -- all the business both of the estate and of the various commercial interests; Loft's territory was merely the house, but his sense of importance magnified the weight of his functions; to me fell such of Miss Driver's work as she did not choose to transact herself. In fact I was kept pretty busy and was in constant communication with her. In reply to my letters I received a few notes -- very brief ones -- and many telegrams -- very decisive ones. As I expected, it was not long before she took the reins into her own hands. In matters of business she always knew her mind -- even if she did not always tell it; indecision was reserved for another department. But neither in notes, nor in telegrams did she disclose anything of her doings, except that she was well and enjoying herself.