On the other hand, if he
were thrust prematurely into great responsibility, he would be almost
certain to make some serious error, some fatal break, which would impair
his usefulness, and perhaps ruin it forever. Do you see my point? As his
sponsor on the _Post_, it seemed to me unwise and unfair to expose him
to the risks of forcing his pace. That's the whole story. I'm not the
king at all. I'm only the regent during the king's minority."
Sharlee now saw how unjust she had been, to listen to the small whisper
of doubt of West's entire magnanimity.
"You are much wiser and farther-sighted than I."
"Perish the thought!"
"I'm glad my little Doctor--only he isn't either little or very much of
a doctor any more--has such a good friend at court."
"Nonsense. It was only what anybody who stopped to think a moment would
have done."
"Not everybody who stops to think is so generous...."
This thought, too, Mr. West abolished by a word.
"But you will like the work, won't you!" continued Sharlee, still
self-reproachful. "I do hope you will."
"I shall like it immensely," said West, above pretending, as some
regents would have done, that he was martyring himself for his friend,
the king.
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