CHAPTER THE TWELFTH
ANN VERONICA PUTS THINGS IN ORDER
Part 1
Ann Veronica made a strenuous attempt to carry out her good
resolutions. She meditated long and carefully upon her letter to
her father before she wrote it, and gravely and deliberately
again before she despatched it.
"MY DEAR FATHER," she wrote,--"I have been thinking hard about
everything since I was sent to this prison. All these experiences
have taught me a great deal about life and realities. I see that
compromise is more necessary to life than I ignorantly supposed
it to be, and I have been trying to get Lord Morley's book on
that subject, but it does not appear to be available in the
prison library, and the chaplain seems to regard him as an
undesirable writer."
At this point she had perceived that she was drifting from her
subject.
"I must read him when I come out. But I see very clearly that as
things are a daughter is necessarily dependent on her father and
bound while she is in that position to live harmoniously with his
ideals."
"Bit starchy," said Ann Veronica, and altered the key abruptly.
Her concluding paragraph was, on the whole, perhaps, hardly
starchy enough.
"Really, daddy, I am sorry for all I have done to put you out.
May I come home and try to be a better daughter to you?
"ANN VERONICA."
