She came up to Daisy and kissed her, and then
examined into her various arrangements, to see that she was in
all respects well and properly cared for.
Her mother's presence made Daisy feel very meek. Her kiss had
been affectionate, her care was motherly; but with all that
there was not a turn of her hand nor a tone of her calm voice,
that did not imply and express absolute possession, perfect
control. That Daisy was a little piece of property belonging
to her in sole right, with which she did and would do
precisely what it might please her, with very little concern
how or whether it might please Daisy. Daisy was very far from
putting all this in words, or even in distinct thoughts;
nevertheless, she felt and knew every bit of it; her mother's
hand did not touch Daisy's foot or her shoulder, without her
inward consciousness what a powerful hand it was. Now it is
true that all this was in one way no new thing; Daisy had
always known her mother's authority to be just what it was
now; but it was only of late that a question had arisen about
the bearing of this authority upon her own little life and
interests. With the struggle that had been, and the new
knowledge that more struggles in the future were not
impossible, the consciousness of her mother's power over her
had a new effect.
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