She knew the whole, for she had seen a letter to her father written by
Lady Jane, who stated the case in plain language, and, denouncing Daisy
as a disgrace to the McPherson family, asked that Archie should exercise
his marital authority and keep his wife at home.
This letter had hurt Bessie cruelly, and when next her mother came to
Stoneleigh she had begged of her to give up the life she was leading,
and stay in her own home.
"And so all starve together," Daisy had answered her. "Do you know,
child, that you would not have enough to eat or wear, if it were not for
me? Your father has never earned a shilling in his life, and never will.
It is not in him. We are owing everybody, and somebody must work. If I
am that somebody, I choose to do it in my own way, and I am not the
highly demoralized female Lady Jane thinks me to be. Her bosom friend,
old Lady Oakley, plays at Monte Carlo, and so do many high-bred English
dames, and Americans, too, for that matter. I am no worse than scores of
women, except that I am poor and play from necessity, while they do it
for pastime.
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