"It won't have our name," said Ben. "It's to be called 'The Beck and Call.'"
"Oh, is it?" he cried. "Is it? I like that! Colonel Staveley's daughter advertising herself at anyone's beck and call. A nice pill for an old soldier to swallow, a nice thing to explain away to one's friends."
Ben was silent for a while. Then, "I think you're taking it too seriously," she said. "Many changes have come about since you were young. The world has given up a lot of its sillinesses, and one of them is the prejudice against people going into business. I am convinced that no girl of twenty-two ought to be just a drone."
"I can't think why you never married," said the Colonel, peevishly.
"I suppose because it takes two to make a marriage," said Ben.
"You must have played your cards devilish badly," her father retorted. "There's Alicia, she's married, even though her husband is dead. And Merrill's married. And most of your cousins are married. I can't understand what you've been doing."
"Some girls must be single," said Ben. "Why, there are millions more women than men in this country alone. I read the figures only the other day."
"It is the duty of every woman of spirit," said the Colonel, oracularly, "not to be one of them. And what," he continued, "will you do when all the money's gone?"
"I don't see why it shouldn't succeed," said Ben.
"Well, some things succeed," said Ben. "Everything doesn't fail. Look at the people round you: they're not all bankrupt."
"They seem to have money for a good many frivolities and luxuries still," said Ben. "Anyway, I mean to do my best to make it succeed. And I hope," she added, "that if you're in any difficulty here you'll come to 'The Beck and Call.' I must send Belle some cards when we're ready."
"You needn't trouble," said the Colonel. "If you ever see Belle or myself on your premises or catch us recognizing this nonsense of yours, I'll"--well, you know how that kind of man always finishes that kind of sentence--"I'll eat my hat."
"Don't do that, father," said Ben. "Promise me a new one instead."
"With the greatest pleasure in the world," said the Colonel.
The Colonel was not alone in his hostility to Ben's decision. Most of the family, indeed, expressed disapproval, which is a word that was, I suspect, originally coined for no other purpose than to describe the attitude of people to any novel or independent action on the part of any of their relations, the younger ones in particular.