I soon, therefore, became
much attached to him; and I enjoyed one at least of the chief elements
of the happiness of the individual,--the happiness of those among whom
the individual lives.
In the mean time my guardian sometimes discussed with me some other
things besides the jellies. For instance, "Katy," said he at one of our
_tete-a-tete_ dinners, "you walk out every day, I suppose; or, at least,
you ought. I wish you would call now and then, and take Nelly Fader with
you. She can hardly be a very entertaining companion to you, I own, but
it would be a charity; and, for your mother's daughter, that's enough."
"Certainly I will. By the way, speaking of her, what _did_ you mean by
what you said that day about female physicians?"
"I meant what I said," returned he, bluntly. "I meant just what I said.
We need them, and we shall have them. It is an experiment that has got
to be tried, and will be probably, within your lifetime, if not in mine.
I don't want you to be one of them, though. You ought to be as much
cleverer than yourself as you are now than Nelly Fader, in order to
carry it through; and even then it might be the carrying of a cross
through life,--a grievous, in the view of most men perhaps an
ignominious cross, to the pioneers.
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