foran
eye
,
and
a
tooth
for
a
tooth
;
'
in
fact
,
"
answers
Bob
,
with
a
sarcasm
unusual
to
him
,
"
you
are
forgetting
,
mother
,
how
often
you
have
impressed
upon
me
that
we
are
no
longer
under
the
Mosaic
dispensation
!
But
why
should
she
have
compassion
on
me
,
may
I
ask
?
In
what
way
do
I
stand
in
need
for
it
?
I
'
m
not
a
woman
,
thank
God
!
"
She
looks
at
him
,
intently
,
with
a
steadiness
that
disconcerts
him
.
"
Bob
,
can
you
look
me
in
the
face
and
tell
me
that
you
have
not
been
unhappier
since
you
knew
Esther
Craven
than
ever
you
were
before
in
all
your
life
?
"
"
I
have
,
"
he
answers
,
simply
,
"
and
happier
too
;
so
that
makes
it
square
.
"
Foiled
in
this
direction
,
she
varies
her
point
of
attack
a
little
:
"
Can
you
look
me
in
the
face
,
and
tell
me
that
since
your
engagement
she
has
behaved
to
you
as
a
modest
,
honourable
woman
should
behave
to
the
man
she
has
promised
to
marry
?
"
?
"
He
casts
his
eyes
down
troubled
,
and
begins
to
fidget
with
a
dilapidated
little
Chelsea
Cupid
on
the
mantelshelf
,
too
truthful
to
say
"
Yes
,
"
too
generous
to
say
"
No.
"
"
She
is
ready
to
fulfil
her
promise
,
"
he
answers
,
evasively
.
"
She
is
willing
to
marry
me
whenever
I
like
,
as
I
told
you
before
—
to-morrow
!
to-night
!
this
instant
,
if
I
wish
!
"
"
For
a
home
,
of
course
;
one
can
understand
that
,
in
her
situation
,
"
says
his
mother
,
in
a
tone
of
slighting
pity
.
Bob
perceives
,
and
is
stung
by
it
.
"
No
,
not
for
a
home
!
"
he
answers
,
indignantly
.
"
Poor
soul
!
she
may
have
that
without
paying
such
a
heavy
toll
for
it
.
"
"
To
what
motive
,
then
,
do
you
ascribe
her
willingness
?
"
"
She
told
me
that
she
liked
me
better
than
any
one
else
in
the
world
,
"
he
answers
,
with
the
reluctance
of
one
who
is
making
a
statement
that
he
believes
will
not
be
credited
by
the
auditor
to
whom
it
is
addressed
.
"
My
poor
simple
boy
I
and
you
believed
her
?
"
(
with
a
sort
of
compassionate
scorn
)
.
He
hesitates
.
"
I
believe
that
she
meant
what
she
said
at
the
moment
,
"
he
replies
,
doubtfully
.
"
If
there
was
such
perfect
harmony
of
opinion
between
you
,
why
was
the
engagement
broken
,
may
I
ask
?
"
she
inquires
,
a
little
sharply
.
No
answer
,
except
quickened
breathing
,
and
a
frown
slightly
contracting
his
climate-bronzed
forehead
.
"
Was
it
—
oh
,
my
dear
boy
!
if
it
was
so
,
no
one
can
respect
your
scruples
more
than
I
do
—
was
it
because
you
were
not
quite
sure
that
she
was
one
of
the
Lord
's
people
?
"
"
Oh
,
dear
,
no
,
"
answers
the
young
man
,
quickly
,
with
scarcely
repressed
impatience
in
his
tone
—
"
nothing
of
the
kind
.
God
forbid
my
being
so
presumptuously
uncharitable
!
How
am
I
to
know
who
is
,
or
who
is
not
?
All
I
know
is
that
if
she
is
not
,
neither
am
I
;
and
I
trust
,
mother
,
that
you
will
find
,
by-and-bye
,
that
they
are
not
quite
such
a
scanty
nation
as
you
seem
to
imagine
.
"
"
A
higher
authority
than
I
am
has
expressly
designated
them
'
a
little
flock
,
'
"
says
the
old
woman
,
sententiously
,
pursing
up
her
mouth
;
"
but
far
be
it
from
me
to
wish
to
judge
,
whatever
you
may
imply
.
But
I
am
still
waiting
to
hear
what
your
motive
was
for
breaking
your
engagement
,
a
motive
which
you
seem
to
have
such
an
unaccountable
difficulty
in
telling
me
.
"
He
looks
down
,
for
an
instant
or
two
,
biting
his
lips
,
then
speaks
petulantly
:
"
Why
should
I
tell
you
,
mother
?
—
why
should
I
tell
any
one
?
A
man
's
motives
are
his
own
concern
,
whatever
his
actions
may
be
;
if
mine
are
strong
enough
to
satisfy
myself
and
her
,
surely
that
is
enough
.
"
"
Oh
,
of
course
,
"
answers
his
mother
,
rather
nettled
at
what
she
considers
a
want
of
confidence
;
"
only
that
,
unless
I
am
put
in
possession
of
the
circumstances
of
the
case
,
I
really
do
n't
see
how
I
can
be
expected
to
give
advice
—
"
"
I
do
n't
want
advice
,
"
interrupts
the
young
man
,
eagerly
.
"
I
want
a
much
better
thing
—
assistance
.
"
"
Assistance
in
what
?
"
"
Why
,
in
hindering
that
poor
girl
,
"
he
says
,
with
warmth
,
"
from
being
thrown
upon
the
world
penniless
,
helpless
,
and
without
a
friend
,
as
she
will
be
after
the
sale
at
Glan-yr-Afon
.
"
"
Not
without
a
friend
,
as
long
as
you
are
alive
,
Bob
;
one
can
answer
for
that
!
"
rejoins
his
mother
,
rather
tartly
.
"
I
count
for
nothing
,
"
says
Bob
,
quietly
.
"
A
man
's
friendship
can
be
of
no
service
to
a
woman
,
unless
he
is
in
some
authorised
position
of
relationship
or
connection
with
her
;
otherwise
he
does
her
more
harm
than
good
.
What
she
needs
,
and
what
I
hoped
she
would
have
found
in
you
,
mother
,
is
a
woman-friend
.
"
"
If
,
"
replies
his
mother
,
drawing
herself
up
and
looking
very
stiff
—
"
If
she
is
,
as
you
say
,
too
proud
to
avail
herself
of
the
home
that
I
am
,
for
your
sake
,
willing
to
offer
her
,
she
is
likely
to
be
too
proud
to
consent
to
be
befriended
in
any
other
way
.
"
Brandon
looks
at
her
for
a
moment
with
something
akin
to
indignant
scorn
in
his
face
,
dutiful
son
as
he
usually
is
;
then
,
repenting
,
throws
himself
on
his
knees
beside
her
,
and
clasping
his
arms
about
her
withered
neck
,
says
,
entreatingly
:
"
Mother
,
why
are
you
so
hard
upon
her
?
—
what
has
she
done
to
you
?
Just
think
,
how
would
you
have
liked
Jane
or
Bessy
,
when
they
were
her
age
,
to
have
been
driven
out
into
the
world
to
make
their
own
way
,
without
a
single
soul
to
say
a
kind
word
to
them
,
or
give
them
a
helping
hand
;
and
,
"
he
continues
,
musingly
,
"
they
never
could
have
been
exposed
to
the
temptations
she
will
be
—
they
never
were
beautiful
,
like
her
!
"
He
had
never
spoken
truer
words
in
all
his
life
,
but
the
truth
is
not
always
the
best
to
be
spoken
.
"
At
all
events
,
"
says
the
old
lady
,
with
emphasis
,
freeing
herself
from
his
arms
,
and
getting
rather
red
in
the
face
face
—
"
At
all
events
,
Bob
,
however
disparagingly
you
may
speak
of
them
,
they
were
and
are
good
,
modest
,
pious
girls
,
that
would
not
trifle
with
an
honest
man
's
affection
for
their
own
amusement
,
as
handsomer
ones
have
done
before
now
.
"
"
I
never
heard
of
any
honest
man
having
given
them
the
chance
,
"
retorts
Bob
,
sarcastically
,
quitting
his
caressing
posture
,
with
a
revulsion
of
feeling
as
sudden
as
it
was
complete
.
"
The
servants
are
assembled
,
"
says
the
youngest
,
best
,
modestest
,
piousest
of
the
girls
,
opening
the
door
,
and
putting
in
her
little
drab
face
.
"
Must
I
tell
them
to
go
back
to
the
kitchen
for
a
quarter
of
an
hour
,
or
has
Bob
nearly
finished
his
private
communication
?
"
"
Quite
!
"
replies
Bob
,
emphatically
.
He
is
standing
leaning
against
the
chimneypiece
,
his
colour
heightened
,
and
a
sorely
angered
look
on
his
open
simple
face
.
"
You
need
not
wait
for
me
,
mother
,
"
he
continues
,
seeing
his
parent
look
inquiringly
towards
him
,
as
she
moves
with
the
slowness
of
age
and
portliness
to
the
door
;
"
I
shall
not
come
to
prayers
to-night
.
When
one
prays
,
one
ought
to
be
in
charity
with
all
the
world
,
ought
not
one
?
And
I
am
not
.
"
CHAPTER
XXV
.
T
HE
rough
winds
and
the
spiteful
rains
have
wellnigh
stripped
all
their
red-and-yellow
clothing
off
the
trees
:
upon
the
oaks
alone
some
leaves
still
hang
persistent
,
though
withered
and
crackly
.
The
apples
and
pears
are
all
gathered
and
stored
for
the
winter
;
even
the
dark-blue
Orleans
plums
,
that
require
the
crisping
frost
to
ripen
them
,
are
eaten
and
gone
.
The
sale
at
Glan-yr-Afon
is
over
;
it
is
enrolled
among
that
countless
array
of
unrecallable
events
,
great
and
little
,
that
is
past
.
The
new
tenant
,
an
ordinary
Welsh
farmer
,
with
an
overfull
quiver
of
sprouting
Welshmen
and
Welshwomen
,
has
entered
into
possession
.
No
one
has
taken
the
trouble
to
"
redd
up
"
the
garden
for
the
winter
;
flowers
do
not
help
to
pay
the
rent
—
they
give
back
nothing
but
their
beauty
and
perfume
;
and
so
,
over
Esther
's
trim
flower-beds
,
sheep-dogs
gallop
,
and
children
,
boisterous
with
health
and
spirits
,
run
races
.
The
rustic
seat
under
the
old
cherry-
tree
—
the
seat
that
Jack
fashioned
in
the
summer
evenings
—
has
been
broken
up
for
firewood
;
and
in
Jack
's
chair
in
the
dining-room
,
the
father
of
the
family
reposes
his
plethoric
bulk
of
an
evening
,
when
he
does
not
happen
to
be
getting
drunk
at
the
"
Punch
Bowl
,
"
and
snores
euphoniously
.
And
Bob
,
pursued
by
blessings
,
prayers
,
lamentations
,
and
strong
wishes
for
his
safe
back-coming
,
is
gone
—
gone
away
in
a
smoky
steamer
,
over
the
mist-mantled
grey
sea
.
Not
a
few
of
the
tears
that
fell
for
him
came
from
Esther
's
eyes
—
not
love-tears
,
shed
privily
,
secretly
,
dashed
away
with
hasty
care
at
the
sound
of
any
approaching
footsteps
,
but
poured
out
openly
,
publicly
,
in
the
presence
of
his
mother
and
sisters
—
mingled
with
theirs
,
indeed
,
as
of
no
different
quality
.
Not
more
openly
,
not
more
publicly
,
had
she
wept
for
old
Luath
,
when
,
on
the
day
before
the
sale
,
the
old
dog
,
who
had
ailed
and
moped
ever
since
his
master
's
(
to
him
)
unaccountable
disappearance
,
crawled
weakly
to
her
feet
,
and
,
looking
up
dimly
wistful
into
her
face
for
the
last
time
,
died
licking
her
tender
hand
.
On
the
day
before
his
departure
,
Brandon
came
to
say
"
Good-bye
"
to
her
.
"
I
have
told
mother
nothing
,
"
he
says
,
with
some
embarrassment
,
in
allusion
to
their
late
engagement
—
"
nothing
,
except
that
I
was
sure
that
I
could
not
make
you
happy
.
I
have
given
her
no
reason
,
Esther
—
give
her
none
either
!
She
will
not
ask
you
point-blank
,
and
it
is
always
easy
to
evade
indirect
questions
;
there
are
some
things
that
it
is
of
no
use
being
confidential
about
.
"
"
I
see
,
"
she
answers
,
with
a
faint
smile
.
"
I
understand
,
neatly
as
you
have
gilded
the
pill
,
you
are
afraid
that
she
would
turn
me
out-of-doors
if
she
knew
what
a
treacherous
,
black-hearted
wretch
I
have
been
;
that
I
should
have
to
take
refuge
even
sooner
than
I
must
otherwise
do
in
the
workhouse
,
to
which
I
always
look
forward
as
my
final
destination
.
"
Then
,
bidding
God
bless
her
,
he
wrings
her
hand
,
strongly
,
and
so
takes
his
last
farewell
of
her
,
nor
ever
sees
her
fair
face
and
great
gentle
stag
eyes
again
.
And
now
he
is
gone
—
gone
with
a
difficult
smile
on
his
face
,
and
very
little
money
in
his
pocket
.
He
never
has
much
,
but
he
has
less
than
usual
now
;
having
spent
his
few
last
sovereigns
on
the
erecting
a
plain
white
cross
at
the
head
of
Jack
's
low
grave
,
that
,
when
this
generation
has
passed
,
his
place
of
sleeping
may
not
be
quite
undistinguished
from
that
of
his
neighbour
dust
.
He
has
gone
,
with
his
heart
's
strongest
longing
balked
,
his
prime
hope
death-smitten
;
but
yet
not
despairing
—
not
cursing
his
day
,
nor
arraigning
High
God
,
saying
,
"
Why
do
I
,
undeserving
,
thus
suffer
?
"
He
carries
away
with
him
no
heavy
seething
load
of
revenge
,
no
man-slaying
ardour
of
hatred
against
the
woman
that
has
wronged
him
,
and
the
man
for
whose
sake
she
did
it
.
Life
is
full
,
interesting
,
complex
—
not
all
on
one
string
,
whatever
morbid
women
and
moody
rhymers
may
say
;
not
all
sexual
love
—
all
of
it
,
that
is
,
that
is
not
devoted
to
drinking
,
as
Anacreon
,
Catullus
,
and
Moore
have
dulcetly
told
us
.
And
therefore
,
though
poor
,
disappointed
,
and
heart-wrung
,
Brandon
is
not
all
unhappy
.
He
has
been
greatly
sinned
against
,
and
has
forgiven
,
thus
exercising
the
function
that
raises
us
nearest
to
a
level
with
the
Godhead
.
And
meanwhile
Esther
,
left
behind
in
wintry
Wales
,
takes
his
emptied
place
at
triste
Plas
Berwyn
.
Despite
all
her
resolves
,
despite
her
high
talk
that
a
morsel
of
Mrs.
Brandon
's
bread
would
choke
her
—
that
it
would
be
better
to
starve
than
to
be
under
any
obligation
to
the
family
of
the
man
she
has
betrayed
—
she
is
now
eating
that
suffocating
bread
,
now
lying
under
those
annihilating
obligations
.
Want
makes
us
swallow
our
dignity
—
makes
us
do
many
mean
things
.
One
must
live
;
one
must
keep
in
that
breath
that
perhaps
is
only
spent
in
sighs
:
and
Mr.
James
Greenwood
has
made
us
all
out
of
love
with
the
workhouse
.
So
she
sits
down
three
times
a
day
at
Mrs.
Brandon
's
table
,
the
unwillingest
guest
that
ever
sat
at
any
board
,
and
eats
the
bread
of
charity
,
and
the
roast
mutton
and
apple-tart
of
charity
,
when
the
conclusion
of
the
long
Puritan
grace
gives
her
permission
to
do
so
.
There
is
plenty
of
time
for
thinking
at
Plas
Berwyn
,
for
in
that
still
household
talk
is
not
rife
.
When
people
never
leave
their
own
little
one
earth-nook
,
rarely
see
any
one
beyond
their
immediate
family
circle
,
and
rarelier
still
read
any
reviews
,
papers
,
books
,
that
treat
of
any
subject
but
one
,
they
have
not
much
to
talk
about
.
There
are
few
minds
original
enough
,
copious
enough
,
to
suffice
to
them-
selves
—
to
be
able
to
do
without
supplies
derived
from
external
objects
.
Our
thoughts
are
generally
our
own
,
merely
by
right
of
immediate
possession
;
mostly
they
are
the
thoughts
of
others
,
more
or
less
digested
,
more
or
less
amalgamated
with
thought-matter
of
our
own
.
They
are
not
unkind
to
her
,
these
chill
faded
women
.
Not
loving
her
—
for
,
as
Bessy
appositely
quoted
,
"
Can
two
walk
together
except
they
be
agreed
"
—
and
Esther
and
they
are
most
surely
in
nothing
agreed
;
mistrusting
her
,
though
not
knowing
,
of
having
dealt
falsely
by
their
brother
;
sincerely
,
though
bigotedly
,
looking
upon
her
society
as
unprofitable
—
nay
,
almost
contaminating
;
as
being
one
of
the
unregenerate
many
—
one
standing
in
the
cold
,
outside
their
little
clique
of
elect
,
safe
souls
:
despite
all
this
,
they
are
yet
willing
to
give
her
food
and
shelter
,
to
give
them
her
for
an
indefinite
number
of
years
,
to
make
her
a
part
of
their
own
dry
sapless
lives
.
But
she
is
not
willing
—
oh
,
most
unwilling
!
Let
me
not
be
mistaken
,
however
:
it
is
not
with
the
dryness
and
saplessness
of
the
offered
life
that
she
quarrels
.
Life
must
henceforth
be
to
her
,
everywhere
,
dry
and
sapless
;
the
duller
it
is
,
the
less
it
contrasts
with
her
own
thoughts
.
It
must
be
lived
somewhere
:
it
can
be
lived
pleasurably
nowhere
.
Then
,
why
not
unpleasurably
,
greyly
,
negatively
,
at
Plas
Berwyn
?
Why
not
,
supposing
that
she
had
been
able
to
pay
for
her
own
cups
of
tea
and
slices
of
mutton
,
for
her
own
iron
bedstead
and
deal
washhand-stand
?
But
,
supposing
that
she
was
not
able
;
supposing
that
she
was
so
destitute
as
to
be
glad
,
even
while
weeping
over
his
poor
rough
body
,
that
her
old
dog
had
died
because
she
was
too
poor
to
be
able
to
keep
him
;
supposing
that
this
life
entailed
upon
her
the
bitter
pain
of
being
daily
,
hourly
grateful
to
people
for
whose
society
she
had
a
strong
repugnance
,
and
upon
whom
,
in
the
person
of
one
of
their
nearest
and
dearest
,
she
had
inflicted
a
mortal
injury
?
It
is
hard
to
live
with
people
whose
every
idea
runs
counter
to
your
own
—
whose
whole
tone
of
thought
and
conversation
is
diametrically
opposed
to
what
you
have
been
used
to
all
your
life
—
and
yet
not
be
able
to
contradict
,
to
argue
with
,
or
differ
from
them
,
because
you
are
eating
of
their
bread
and
drinking
of
their
cup
.
The
mere
fact
of
feeling
that
you
are
too
deeply
indebted
to
people
to
be
able
,
without
flagrant
ingratitude
,
to
quarrel
,
makes
you
desire
ardently
to
fall
out
with
them
.
"
How
much
better
to
be
a
professed
beggar
at
once
!
"
thinks
Esther
,
with
a
sort
of
grim
humour
.
"
How
much
better
to
whine
and
shuffle
along
the
streets
at
people
's
elbows
,
swearing
that
you
have
a
husband
dying
of
consumption
,
and
six
children
all
under
three
years
of
age
starving
at
home
!
"
It
is
only
the
very
basest
and
the
very
noblest
natures
that
can
accept
great
favours
and
not
be
crushed
by
them
.
Esther
's
is
neither
.
To
her
it
is
only
the
thought
that
her
state
of
dependence
is
temporary
that
makes
it
supportable
.
She
has
lost
no
time
in
appealing
to
Mrs.
Brandon
for
her
aid
in
the
search
for
work
—
work
,
that
vague
word
,
that
conveys
to
her
no
distinct
idea
,
that
stands
to
her
in
the
place
of
something
to
be
done
by
her
,
in
return
for
which
she
may
be
able
to
obtain
food
and
drink
,
without
saying
"
Thank
you
"
to
any
one
for
them
.
On
the
afternoon
of
the
day
of
Bob
's
departure
Esther
has
been
sitting
for
an
hour
or
more
,
in
listless
sadness
,
on
the
fender-stool
before
the
fire
,
her
eyes
staring
vacantly
at
the
battered
Michaelmas
daisies
aqd
discoloured
chrysanthemums
in
the
wintry
,
darkening
garden
outside
.
Mrs.
Brandon
's
steel
knitting-pins
click
gently
,
as
she
knits
round
and
round
,
round
and
round
,
in
the
monotonous
eternity
of
a
long-ribbed
knickerbocker
stocking
.
The
fire-gleams
flicker
dully
red
on
the
sombre
,
large-patterned
flock-paper
,
which
makes
the
room
look
twice
as
small
and
twice
as
dark
as
it
need
otherwise
do
.
Esther
is
roused
from
her
reverie
by
the
entrance
of
the
servant
with
the
moderator
lamp
.
"
Mrs.
Brandon
!
"
she
says
,
addressing
her
hostess
.
"
Yes
,
my
dear
!
"
The
"
my
dear
"
is
a
concession
to
Bob
's
memory
.
"
Bob
told
me
,
"
says
the
young
girl
,
with
some
diffidence
,
"
that
you
were
good
enough
to
say
that
you
would
help
me
in
looking
for
—
for
—
something
to
do
!
"
The
old
lady
looks
scrutinizingly
at
her
over
the
tops
of
her
spectacles
.
"
My
dear
son
expressed
such
great
,
such
surprising
anxiety
,
considering
that
your
connection
with
him
is
at
an
end
,
about
your
future
,
that
I
did
promise
.
"
"
And
you
will
?
"
asks
the
other
,
timidly
.
"
I
always
keep
my
promises
,
Esther
,
I
hope
"
(
with
a
slight
expressive
accent
on
the
I
and
my
)
.
"
When
will
you
begin
?
—
soon
?
—
at
once
?
to-morrow
?
"
cries
the
girl
,
eagerly
.
Mrs.
Brandon
hesitates
:
"
I
must
first
know
for
what
sort
of
employment
you
wish
—
for
what
sort
you
are
best
suited
?
"
"
I
am
suited
for
nothing
,
"
she
answers
,
despondently
;
"
but
that
must
not
deter
me
.
If
nobody
did
any
work
but
what
they
were
fitted
for
,
three
quarters
of
the
world
would
be
idle
.
"
"
Would
you
be
inclined
to
take
a
situation
as
governess
,
if
one
could
be
found
for
you
in
a
respectable
pious
family
?
"
She
shakes
her
head
.
"
I
do
n't
know
enough
,
and
I
have
no
accomplishments
.
I
can
read
a
few
pages
of
'
Racine
'
or
'
Télémaque
'
without
applying
very
often
to
the
dictionary
;
modern
French
,
with
its
colloquialisms
and
slang
,
baffles
me
;
and
I
can
play
a
few
'
Etudes
'
and
'
Morceaux
de
Salon
'
in
a
slipshod
,
boarding-school
fashion
;
but
these
extensive
requirements
would
hardly
be
enough
.
"
Mrs.
Brandon
pauses
in
consideration
.
"
There
are
so
few
occupations
open
to
ladies
,
"
she
remarks
,
with
an
emphasis
on
the
word
.
"
Most
professions
are
closed
up
by
our
sex
,
and
all
trades
by
our
birth
and
breeding
.
"
"
When
one
is
a
pauper
,
one
must
endeavour
to
forget
that
one
ever
was
a
lady
,
"
answers
Esther
,
rather
grimly
;
"
my
gentility
would
not
stand
in
the
way
of
my
being
a
shoeblack
,
if
women
ever
were
shoeblacks
,
and
if
they
paid
one
tolerably
for
it
.
"
"
Would
you
like
to
try
dressmaking
?
"
inquires
her
companion
,
rather
doubtfully
.
Esther
gives
an
involuntary
gasp
.
It
is
not
a
pleasant
sensation
when
the
consciousness
that
one
is
about
to
descend
from
the
station
that
one
has
been
born
and
has
grown
up
in
is
first
brought
stingingly
home
to
one
.
Happiness
,
they
say
,
is
to
be
found
equally
in
all
ranks
,
but
no
one
ever
yet
started
the
idea
that
it
was
sweet
to
go
down
.
Quick
as
lightning
there
flashed
before
her
mind
the
recollection
of
a
slighting
remark
made
by
Miss
Blessington
,
à
propos
of
two
very
second-rate
young
ladies
,
who
had
come
to
call
at
Felton
one
day
during
her
visit
there
,
that
"
they
looked
like
little
milliners
!
"
Was
she
going
to
be
a
"
little
milliner
?
"
"
I
'm
afraid
I
do
n't
sew
well
enough
,
"
she
answers
,
gently
,
wondering
meanwhile
that
the
idea
has
never
before
struck
her
what
a
singularly
inefficient
,
incapable
member
of
society
she
is
.
"
I
cannot
cut
out
:
I
can
make
a
bonnet
,
and
I
can
mend
stockings
in
a
boggling
,
amateur
kind
of
way
,
and
that
is
all
!
"
Recollecting
whose
stockings
it
was
that
she
had
been
used
to
mend
in
the
boggling
way
she
speaks
of
,
a
knife
passes
through
her
quivering
heart
.
"
The
same
objection
would
apply
to
your
attempting
a
lady's-maid
's
place
,
I
suppose
?
"
"
Yes
,
of
course
"
(
bending
down
her
long
white
neck
in
a
despondent
attitude
)
;
"
but
"
(
with
regathered
animation
in
eye
and
tone
)
—
"
but
that
objection
would
not
apply
to
any
other
branch
of
domestic
service
—
a
housemaid
,
for
instance
;
it
cannot
require
much
native
genius
,
or
a
very
long
apprenticeship
,
to
know
how
to
empty
baths
,
and
make
beds
,
and
clean
grates
:
I
ought
to
be
able
to
learn
how
in
a
week
.
"
Mrs.
Brandon
's
eyes
travel
involuntarily
to
the
small
,
idle
,
white
hands
that
lie
on
Esther
's
lap
—
the
blue-veined
,
patrician
hands
that
she
is
so
calmly
destining
to
spend
their
existence
in
trundling
mops
and
scouring
floors
.
"
My
dear
child
,
"
she
says
,
with
compelled
compassion
in
her
voice
,
"
you
talk
very
lightly
of
these
things
;
but
you
can
have
no
conception
,
till
you
make
the
experiment
,
of
what
the
trial
would
be
of
being
thrown
on
terms
of
equality
among
a
class
of
persons
so
immensely
your
inferiors
in
education
and
refinement
.
"
"
I
believe
it
is
a
well-authenticated
fact
,
"
answer
Esther
,
firmly
,
"
that
in
some
town
in
one
of
the
midland
counties
a
baronet
's
wife
is
,
or
was
,
earning
her
living
by
going
out
charing
.
What
right
have
I
to
be
more
squeamish
than
she
?
"
"
It
is
unchristian
,
"
pursues
Mrs.
Brandon
—
unconvinced
by
Esther
's
anecdote
,
which
indeed
she
treats
as
apocryphal
—
"
to
call
any
one
common
or
unclean
,
and
God
forbid
that
I
should
ever
do
so
!
But
imagine
a
lady
,
born
and
bred
like
yourself
,
exposed
to
the
coarse
witticisms
of
the
footman
and
the
intimate
friendship
of
the
cook
!
"
Esther
's
little
face
seems
to
catch
some
of
the
deep
fire-glow
—
her
breast
heaves
up
and
down
in
angry
,
quick
pants
.
"
Mrs.
Brandon
,
do
you
suppose
that
they
would
be
so
impertinent
—
?
"
she
begins
,
fiercely
;
then
breaks
off
,
ashamed
.
"
I
forgot
;
it
would
be
no
impertinence
then
!
Well
!
"
(
with
a
long
low
sigh
)
"
I
am
tough
:
I
have
borne
worse
things
!
This
is
but
a
little
thing
,
after
all
;
I
can
bear
this
!
"
"
I
think
,
Esther
,
that
if
,
as
I
fear
,
you
are
leaning
on
your
own
strength
,
and
not
on
an
Unseen
Arm
,
you
are
overrating
your
powers
of
endurance
.
"
"
Perhaps
;
I
can
but
try
.
"
"
Impossible
!
"
answers
Mrs.
Brandon
,
with
cool
,
common
sense
.
"
Who
would
hire
you
?
Ridiculous
!
—
childish
!
No
,
Esther
;
we
must
try
and
find
something
more
eligible
for
you
,
if
you
are
still
foolishly
bent
on
declining
the
happy
,
and
respectable
,
and
(
I
humbly
hope
I
may
say
)
pious
home
that
I
am
so
willing
—
that
we
are
all
so
willing
—
to
offer
you
.
"
"
Oh
yes
!
yes
!
yes
!
"
cries
the
child
,
passionately
.
"
I
am
bent
on
it
!
It
is
less
degrading
even
to
be
exposed
,
as
you
say
,
to
the
witticisms
of
the
footman
and
the
friendship
of
the
cook
,
than
to
live
upon
people
on
whom
you
have
no
claim
beyond
that
of
having
been
already
most
ungrateful
to
them
—
than
to
impose
on
their
generosity
,
to
sponge
upon
them
!
"
"
As
you
will
,
Esther
,
"
answers
Mrs.
Brandon
,
loving
her
too
little
,
and
respecting
her
independence
of
spirit
too
much
,
to
reason
further
with
her
.
There
is
a
pause
—
a
pause
broken
presently
by
Esther
,
who
speaks
diffidently
:
"
Mrs.
Brandon
,
do
n't
you
think
that
if
I
could
get
into
one
of
those
large
shops
in
London
,
or
one
of
our
great
towns
,
I
could
try
on
cloaks
,
and
measure
yards
of
ribbon
,
without
requiring
any
great
amount
of
knowledge
of
any
kind
,
theoretical
or
practical
?
"
Mrs.
Brandon
looks
doubtful
.
"
It
is
not
so
easy
as
you
may
imagine
,
my
dear
,
to
obtain
admission
into
one
of
those
shops
:
a
friend
of
mine
made
great
efforts
to
get
a
situation
for
a
protégé
of
hers
at
Marshal
+
Snelgrove
's
,
or
Lewis
+
Allenby
's
,
and
after
waiting
a
long
time
,
was
obliged
to
give
it
up
as
hopeless
.
"
"
Perhaps
she
was
not
tall
?
"
suggests
Esther
,
rather
timidly
.
"
I
really
never
inquired
.
"
"
They
like
them
tall
!
"
says
the
girl
,
involuntarily
drawing
up
her
slight
élancé
figure
;
"
and
I
'm
tall
,
am
I
not
?
"
"
I
should
imagine
that
that
qualification
alone
would
hardly
suffice
,
"
answers
the
old
lady
,
drily
;
"
and
indeed
,
"
she
continues
,
pursing
up
her
mouth
rather
primly
,
"
even
if
it
would
,
I
should
hardly
think
a
situation
in
a
shop
,
or
other
place
of
public
resort
,
desirable
for
a
girl
so
young
,
and
of
so
—
so
—
so
peculiar
an
appearance
as
you
.
"
"
Peculiar
!
"
repeats
Esther
,
rather
resentfully
,
raising
her
great
eyes
in
unfeigned
,
displeased
surprise
to
her
companion
's
face
.
"
Am
I
so
very
odd-looking
,
Mrs.
Brandon
?
I
do
n't
think
I
can
be
,
for
no
one
ever
told
me
so
before
!
"
"
I
did
not
say
odd-looking
,
my
dear
,
"
returns
Mrs.
Brandon
,
sharply
;
"
please
do
n't
put
words
into
my
mouth
.
"
"
If
people
came
to
buy
cloaks
,
they
would
surely
be
thinking
of
how
they
were
looking
,
not
how
I
looked
,
"
says
Esther
,
not
yet
quite
recovered
from
her
annoyed
astonishment
;
"
my
appearance
,
beyond
the
mere
fact
of
my
being
tall
,
could
not
be
of
much
consequence
one
way
or
another
.
"
Mrs.
Brandon
takes
off
and
lays
down
her
spectacles
the
better
to
point
the
rebuke
she
is
about
to
administer
.
"
Esther
,
"
she
says
,
severely
,
"
since
you
insist
on
my
explaining
myself
more
clearly
,
I
must
tell
you
that
I
think
a
girl
should
be
steadier
in
conduct
,
and
more
decidedly
imbued
with
religious
principles
than
I
have
any
reason
for
supposing
you
to
be
,
before
she
is
exposed
to
the
temptations
to
which
a
young
and
handsome
woman
is
liable
in
one
of
those
sinks
of
iniquity
,
our
great
towns
.
"
Esther
flings
up
her
head
with
an
angry
gesture
.
"
I
really
do
n't
see
what
temptations
a
person
even
as
unsteady
and
irreligious
as
I
am
,
"
she
says
,
contemptuously
,
"
could
be
exposed
to
in
a
haberdasher
's
shop
.
Temptation
,
in
a
woman
's
mouth
,
always
implies
something
about
men
;
and
in
a
place
specially
devoted
to
woman
's
dress
,
one
would
be
less
likely
to
see
them
than
in
any
other
spot
on
the
face
of
the
earth
.
"
"
If
you
are
so
much
better
informed
on
the
subject
than
a
person
of
treble
your
years
and
experience
,
"
says
Mrs.
Brandon
,
resuming
her
spectacles
,
and
beginning
to
knit
faster
than
ever
,
"
I
have
,
of
course
,
no
more
to
say
.
"
An
apposite
retort
rises
prompt
and
saucy
to
Esther
's
lips
,
clamouring
for
egress
through
those
sweet
red
gates
;
but
the
recollection
of
Mrs.
Brandon
's
weak
tea
and
legs
of
mutton
,
and
the
obligations
thereto
hanging
,
drives
it
back
again
.
She
leans
her
elbow
on
her
knee
,
and
elevates
her
straight
dark
brows
.
"
The
question
is
,
"
she
says
,
gravely
,
"
can
you
suggest
anything
better
?
When
one
has
no
money
,
and
none
of
the
acquirements
that
command
money
,
one
must
take
what
one
can
get
,
and
be
thankful
.
"
But
Mrs.
Brandon
is
silent
,
counting
her
stitches
,
buried
in
calculations
as
to
whether
her
stocking-leg
has
attained
the
length
and
breadth
suited
to
the
dimensions
of
one
of
her
son
's
large
limbs
.
The
wind
shakes
the
shutter
as
if
,
in
its
lonely
coldness
outside
,
it
coveted
the
fire
and
lamp-light
.
The
old
grey
cat
sits
on
the
fender-stool
beside
Esther
,
yawning
prodigiously
every
now
and
then
;
her
round
fore-paws
gathered
trimly
under
her
,
and
the
sleepy
benignity
of
her
face
half-contradicting
the
fierce
stiffness
of
her
whiskers
,
and
the
tigerish
upward
curve
of
her
lips
.
"
What
is
done
in
haste
is
always
ill-done
,
my
dear
!
"
says
Mrs.
Brandon
,
presently
,
having
satisfactorily
calculated
that
five
more
rows
will
conduct
her
to
Bob
's
large
heel
—
giving
utterance
to
her
little
trite
saw
with
a
certain
air
of
complacency
.
Original
remarks
come
forth
doubtfully
,
questioningly
,
feeling
their
way
:
it
is
only
a
well
aired
platitude
that
can
strut
and
swagger
forwards
in
the
certainty
of
a
good
reception
.
"
We
will
think
over
the
subject
seriously
and
prayerfully
:
we
will
take
it
with
us
to
the
Throne
of
Grace
,
and
make
it
the
subject
of
special
intercession
of
worship
this
evening
.
"
"
Oh
no
,
no
!
please
not
!
—
please
not
!
"
cries
Esther
,
the
lilies
in
her
fair
cheek
turning
quickly
to
deepest
,
angriest
carnations
.
"
I
should
not
like
it
:
I
could
not
come
to
prayers
if
you
did
.
Why
cannot
we
talk
it
over
now
,
this
instant
?
There
's
no
time
like
the
present
.
"
"
I
see
no
hurry
,
Esther
,
"
answers
Mrs.
Brandon
,
coldly
.
"
But
there
is
a
hurry
!
—
every
hurry
!
"
exclaims
the
girl
,
passionately
,
throwing
herself
on
the
floor
beside
Mrs.
Brandon
,
too
much
in
earnest
to
be
chilled
by
the
frosty
cold
of
her
manner
;
her
whole
soul
thrown
,
in
bright
entreaty
,
into
the
great
clear
pupils
of
her
superb
,
up-looking
eyes
.
"
I
do
n't
think
I
ever
knew
what
the
words
meant
till
now
.
I
do
n't
believe
I
ever
could
have
been
in
a
real
hurry
in
my
life
before
!
Put
yourself
in
my
position
,
Mrs.
Brandon
,
"
she
says
,
laying
her
little
eager
hand
on
her
companion
's
rusty-black-coburg
knee
;
"
imagine
how
you
would
like
to
be
wholly
dependent
,
not
only
for
luxuries
and
comforts
—
one
might
well
do
without
them
—
but
for
bare
bread
and
water
,
on
people
that
are
neither
kith
nor
kin
to
you
,
and
that
have
taken
you
in
out
of
Christian
charity
,
and
,
because
they
think
it
right
—
not
in
the
least
because
they
love
you
!
"
"
If
I
were
exposed
to
such
a
trial
,
Esther
,
"
replied
Mrs.
Brandon
,
deliberately
rubbing
her
spectacles
gently
with
her
pocket-handkerchief
,
"
I
hope
that
I
should
bear
it
meekly
;
that
I
should
kiss
the
rod
,
knowing
that
it
was
an
Allwise
Hand
that
brandished
it
,
and
that
I
was
so
chastened
in
order
to
lower
the
pride
of
a
too
carnal
heart
.
"
"
Then
God
forbid
that
my
carnal
heart
may
ever
be
so
lowered
!
"
cries
the
other
,
springing
impetuously
to
her
feet
,
and
drawing
up
her
head
haughtily
.
"
Why
,
"
she
continues
,
beginning
to
walk
up
and
down
the
little
room
with
agitated
steps
and
fingers
hotly
interlaced
—
"
why
did
God
implant
such
an
instinct
as
self-respect
in
us
,
if
supinely
submitting
to
what
destroys
all
self-respect
is
a
passport
to
heaven
?
Who
would
bow
beneath
any
rod
if
they
could
get
from
under
it
?
It
is
a
metaphor
that
always
reminds
me
of
a
naughty
child
,
or
a
broken-spirited
cur
.
"
Mrs.
Brandon
deposits
her
knitting
on
the
table
;
rises
slowly
—
old
people
's
joints
,
like
wooden
dolls
,
decline
to
bend
on
short
notice
(
it
is
a
pity
,
is
it
not
,
that
our
machinery
is
not
calculated
to
remain
in
a
state
of
efficiency
,
even
through
our
paltry
seventy
years
?
)
—
dismounts
from
the
footstool
,
on
which
her
feet
have
been
perched
,
walks
to
the
door
,
there
stands
,
and
,
shaking
her
stiff
,
grey
curls
,
speaks
with
trembling
severity
:
"
Esther
,
until
you
can
discuss
this
subject
with
less
irreverent
violence
,
I
must
beg
to
decline
any
further
conversation
upon
it
.
"
CHAPTER
XXVI
.
"
WANTED
,
by
a
young
person
,
aged
17
,
a
situation
as
companion
to
an
invalid
or
elderly
lady
.
Salary
not
so
much
an
object
as
a
comfortable
home
in
a
pious
family
.
Address
,
A
.
B
.
,
Post
Office
,
Naullan
,
N.W.
"
This
is
the
modest
form
in
which
Miss
Craven
's
desire
for
work
comes
before
the
public
.
She
had
begged
earnestly
for
the
expunging
of
the
"
pious
family
.
"
"
It
is
not
true
,
Mrs.
Brandon
,
"
she
says
,
with
vexed
tears
in
her
eyes
;
"
it
is
nothing
to
me
whether
they
are
pious
or
not
—
the
salary
is
far
the
greatest
object
.
"
"
If
it
is
,
my
dear
,
it
ought
not
to
be
,
"
answers
promptly
Mrs.
Brandon
,
who
,
having
paid
for
the
insertion
of
the
advertisement
,
thinks
that
she
has
a
right
to
word
it
as
she
wishes
.
And
now
it
has
gone
forth
through
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
civilized
world
,
from
the
Arctic
to
the
Antarctic
Poles
—
has
found
its
way
into
clubs
and
cafés
,
hotels
and
private
houses
,
numerous
as
the
sea-sand
grains
,
in
the
overgrown
advertisement
sheet
of
the
Times
.
To
not
one
in
ten
thousand
of
that
journal
's
millions
of
readers
is
it
more
interesting
than
any
other
announcement
in
the
long
columns
of
—
"
Wanted
,
a
cook
,
"
"
Wanted
,
a
cook
.
"
"
Wanted
,
a
good
plain
cook
.
"
"
Wanted
,
a
footman
.
"
"
Wanted
,
a
footman
.
"
A
companionship
,
then
,
is
what
has
been
decided
upon
as
the
vocation
to
which
Esther
is
best
suited
:
it
requires
neither
French
nor
German
,
neither
astronomy
nor
the
use
of
the
globes
:
it
demands
only
a
patience
out-Jobing
Job
,
a
meekness
out-Mosesing
Moses
,
a
capacity
for
eating
dirt
greater
than
that
of
any
parvenu
struggling
into
society
,
health
and
spirits
more
aggressively
strong
than
a
schoolboy
's
,
and
a
pliability
greater
than
an
osier
's
.
These
qualities
being
supposed
to
be
more
quickly
acquirable
than
music
,
drawing
,
and
languages
,
Esther
has
decided
upon
entering
on
the
office
that
will
call
for
the
exercise
of
them
all
.
Besides
the
printed
advertisement
above
quoted
,
Mrs.
Brandon
has
been
advertising
largely
in
private
,
by
means
of
many
long-winded
epistles
;
has
been
seeking
far
and
wide
among
the
circle
of
her
acquaintance
for
some
grey
maid
,
wife
,
or
widow
,
in
the
tending
of
whose
haggard
,
peevish
age
Esther
may
waste
her
sweet
,
ripe
youth
,
unassailed
by
wicked
men
,
in
safe
,
respectable
misery
.
And
meanwhile
Esther
waits
—
waits
through
the
fog-shrouded
,
sun-forgotten
November
days
,
through
the
eternal
black
November
nights
,
—
waits
,
straying
lonely
along
the
steaming
tree-caverned
wood-paths
—
the
solemn
charnels
of
the
dead
summer
nations
of
leaves
and
flowers
.
Preachers
are
fond
of
drawing
a
parallel
between
us
and
those
forest
leaves
;
telling
us
that
,
as
in
the
autumn
they
fall
,
rot
,
are
dissolved
,
and
mingle
together
,
stamped
down
and
shapeless
,
in
brown
confusion
,
and
yet
in
the
spring
come
forth
again
,
fresh
as
ever
;
so
shall
we
—
who
,
in
our
autumn
,
die
,
rot
,
and
are
not
—
come
forth
again
in
our
distant
spring
,
in
lordly
beauty
and
gladness
.
So
speaking
,
whether
thinkingly
or
unthinkingly
,
they
equivocate
—
they
lie
!
It
is
not
the
same
leaves
that
reappear
;
others
like
them
burst
from
their
sappy
buds
,
and
burgeon
in
.the
"
green-haired
woods
;
"
but
not
they
—
not
they
!
They
stir
not
,
nor
is
there
any
movement
among
the
sodden
earth-
mass
that
was
them
.
If
the
parallel
be
complete
,
others
like
us
—
others
as
good
,
as
fair
,
as
we
!
but
yet
not
we
—
other
than
us
,
shall
break
forth
in
lusty
youth
,
in
their
strong
May-time
;
but
we
shall
rot
on
!
"
Oh
touching
,
patient
earth
,
That
weepest
in
thy
glee
;
Whom
God
created
very
good
,
And
very
mournful
we
!
"
how
much
longer
can
you
bear
the
weight
of
all
your
dead
children
,
that
lie
so
heavy
on
your
mother
breast
!
One
morning
,
on
joining
the
Brandon
family
before
prayers
,
Esther
finds
Mrs.
Brandon
reading
aloud
a
letter
;
but
on
Esther
's
entrance
she
desists
.
Hearing
her
voice
stop
,
the
young
girl
comes
forward
eagerly
.
"
Is
it
about
me
?
"
she
asks
,
panting
,
forgetting
her
morning
salutations
.
"
Yes
,
Esther
,
"
replies
Mrs.
Brandon
,
laconically
,
continuing
to
read
,
but
this
time
to
herself
.
Esther
walks
to
the
window
,
drums
on
the
rain-beaten
pane
,
returns
to
the
table
;
takes
up
the
bread-knife
,
and
begins
to
chip
bits
of
crust
off
the
loaf
;
sits
down
,
gets
up
again
;
then
,
unable
to
contain
herself
any
longer
,
cries
out
,
hastily
,
"
Will
it
do
?
—
will
it
do
?
"
"
If
you
will
give
me
time
,
my
dear
,
to
finish
this
letter
in
peace
,
I
shall
have
a
better
chance
of
being
able
to
tell
you
,
"
answers
the
old
lady
,
drily
.
Esther
sits
down
again
,
snubbed
;
and
then
the
door
opens
,
and
the
three
middle-aged
,
quakerish
maid-servants
make
their
sober
entry
,
each
with
bible
and
hymnal
in
her
hand
;
and
the
long
exposition
,
the
eight-versed
hymn
,
and
extempore
prayer
set
in
.
To
Esther
's
ears
,
all
the
words
of
exposition
,
hymn
,
and
prayer
seem
to
be
,
"
Will
it
do
?
—
will
it
do
?
"
"
I
have
received
a
letter
,
"
begins
Mrs.
Brandon
,
slowly
addressing
Esther
,
when
the
"
exercise
"
is
ended
,
"
from
a
valued
Christian
friend
of
mine
,
who
has
lately
met
with
a
lady
and
gentleman
considerably
advanced
in
life
,
who
are
on
the
look-out
for
a
—
"
"
Companion
?
"
interrupted
Esther
,
breathlessly
.
"
For
a
young
person
who
may
supply
the
place
of
their
failing
sight
,
by
reading
to
them
,
writing
letters
for
them
—
may
arrange
the
old
lady
's
work
,
and
make
herself
a
generally
useful
,
agreeable
,
and
ladylike
companion
.
"
"
That
does
not
sound
hard
,
does
it
?
"
says
Esther
,
with
a
nearer
approach
to
hopefulness
in
her
face
than
has
been
seen
there
since
her
brother
's
death
.
"
Neither
reading
,
writing
,
nor
being
ladylike
are
very
difficult
accomplishments
,
are
they
?
Oh
,
Mrs.
Brandon
,
I
hope
they
'll
take
me
,
do
n't
you
?
What
is
their
name
?
"
"
Blessington
!
"
"
Blessington
!
"
repeats
Essie
,
her
lips
parting
in
some
dismay
.
"
I
wonder
are
they
—
can
they
be
—
any
relation
to
Miss
Blessington
,
Sir
Thomas
Gerard
's
ward
?
"
"
I
really
cannot
tell
you
,
my
dear
.
You
have
given
us
so
very
little
information
as
to
your
visit
to
the
Gerards
,
that
I
was
not
even
aware
that
Blessington
was
the
name
of
Sir
Thomas
's
ward
.
"
Esther
passes
by
the
small
reproach
in
silence
.
"
Perhaps
they
may
be
her
father
and
mother
,
"
suggests
Bessy
.
"
She
has
no
father
nor
mother
.
"
"
Her
grandfather
and
grandmother
?
"
"
She
has
no
grandfather
nor
grandmother
.
"
"
Her
great-uncle
and
great-aunt
?
"
"
Possibly
.
"
"
Very
likely
the
same
family
,
"
remarks
Mrs.
Brandon
,
intending
to
say
something
rather
agreeable
than
otherwise
.
"
Blessington
is
not
a
common
name
.
"
"
I
recollect
,
"
Esther
says
,
contracting
her
forehead
in
the
effort
to
recall
all
that
was
said
upon
a
subject
which
at
the
time
interested
her
too
little
to
have
made
much
impression
—
"
I
recollect
her
mentioning
one
day
having
some
old
relations
in
—
shire
,
whom
it
was
a
great
bore
to
have
to
go
and
visit
.
"
"
These
people
live
in
—
shire
.
"
"
Then
it
must
be
the
same
,
"
cries
Essie
,
a
look
of
acute
chagrin
passing
over
her
features
.
"
Oh
,
Mrs.
Brandon
,
what
a
disappointment
!
I
'm
afraid
we
shall
have
to
look
out
again
!
I
'm
afraid
this
wo
n't
do
!
"
"
And
why
not
,
pray
?
"
inquires
the
other
,
staring
in
displeased
astonishment
from
under
her
thick
white
eyebrows
at
her
young
protégée
.
Silence
.
"
Did
you
,
"
inquires
the
old
lady
,
looking
rather
suspiciously
at
her
,
"
have
any
quarrel
or
disagreement
with
the
Gerards
during
your
visit
which
could
render
you
unwilling
to
meet
any
one
in
any
way
connected
with
their
family
?
"
"
Oh
no
!
no
!
—
certainly
not
!
"
answers
Essie
,
vehemently
,
blushing
scarlet
as
any
June
poppy
.
The
elder
woman
's
sharp
ancient
eyes
pass
like
a
gimlet
through
and
through
the
younger
one
.
They
fasten
with
the
pitiless
fixedness
of
one
who
has
passed
the
age
for
blushing
,
and
has
consequently
no
compassion
for
that
infirmity
upon
the
betraying
red
of
her
sweet
bright
cheeks
.
"
Are
you
quite
sure
,
Esther
?
"
"
Quite
,
"
replies
Esther
,
with
steady
slowness
.
"
I
do
n't
like
them
,
as
a
family
.
In
fact
,
I
hate
them
all
;
but
I
have
had
no
quarrel
with
them
.
"
"
I
wonder
that
you
cared
to
spend
a
whole
month
and
more
with
people
that
you
hated
,
"
says
Miss
Bessy
,
with
a
sprightly
smile
.
"
So
do
I
,
Bessy
,
"
answers
Esther
,
bitterly
,
turning
away
her
head
;
"
but
that
's
neither
here
nor
there
.
"
"
Am
I
to
understand
,
then
,
"
says
Mrs.
Brandon
,
with
an
inquisitorial
elevation
of
nose
and
spectacles
,
"
that
an
apparently
groundless
and
,
as
far
as
I
can
judge
,
ungrateful
feeling
of
dislike
towards
people
who
,
from
the
little
you
have
told
us
of
them
,
seem
always
to
have
treated
you
with
indulgent
kindness
,
is
your
sole
motive
for
wishing
to
decline
this
very
desirable
situation
?
"
"
When
one
has
seen
better
days
,
"
answered
the
poor
proud
child
,
sighing
,
"
one
wishes
to
keep
as
far
as
possible
from
any
of
those
who
have
known
one
formerly
.
"
"
Tut
!
"
answers
Mrs.
Brandon
,
chidingly
;
"
it
can
be
a
matter
of
very
little
consequence
to
people
in
the
position
of
the
Gerards
whether
you
have
a
few
pounds
a
year
more
or
less
.
They
can
afford
to
be
kind
to
you
,
whatever
your
circumstances
may
be
!
"
"
I
do
n't
want
them
to
be
kind
to
me
,
"
cries
the
girl
,
fiercely
,
stung
into
swift
anger
.
"
I
know
nothing
I
should
dislike
more
.
The
only
wish
I
have
,
with
regard
to
the
whole
family
,
is
that
I
should
never
hear
their
names
mentioned
again
!
"
Mrs.
Brandon
seats
herself
at
the
table
,
and
begins
to
pour
out
the
tea
out
of
a
huge
,
deep-bodied
family
tea-pot
.
Miss
Bessy
divides
the
small
curling
rashers
of
fat
bacon
into
four
exactly
equal
portions
.
At
Plas
Berwyn
it
is
generally
a
case
of
"
Cynegan
's
Feast
;
or
enough
and
no
waste
.
"
That
is
to
say
,
at
the
first
onslaught
everything
vanishes
;
and
if
any
one
,
with
fruitless
gluttony
,
craves
a
second
help
,
he
must
console
himself
with
the
idea
that
many
medical
men
agree
in
the
opinion
that
,
in
order
to
preserve
ourselves
in
perfect
health
,
we
should
always
rise
from
table
feeling
hungry
.
"
If
,
"
says
Mrs.
Brandon
,
resuming
the
conversation
,
and
setting
her
words
to
the
music
of
a
peculiarly
crisp
piece
of
toast
,
which
she
eats
with
a
rather
infuriating
sound
of
crunching
—
"
If
,
Esther
,
you
can
be
deterred
by
so
trivial
an
obstacle
from
availing
yourself
of
an
opportunity
,
humanly
speaking
,
so
promising
—
a
door
,
I
may
say
,
opened
for
you
in
a
special
and
remarkable
manner
,
in
answer
to
prayer
—
you
cannot
expect
me
to
exert
myself
a
second
time
on
your
behalf
.
"
Esther
stoops
her
head
in
silence
over
her
fat
bacon
,
which
she
has
not
the
heart
to
eat
.
"
Esther
is
more
difficult
to
please
than
we
expected
,
is
not
she
,
mamma
,
"
says
Bessy
,
smiling
slightly
—
"
considering
that
she
told
us
yesterday
she
envied
the
man
who
brought
the
coals
,
because
he
earned
his
own
living
?
"
"
And
so
I
did
,
"
answers
Esther
,
gloomily
.
"
I
'm
afraid
,
Esther
,
"
says
Mrs.
Brandon
,
taking
another
piece
of
toast
,
and
shaking
her
head
prophetically
,
"
that
you
will
have
to
pass
through
a
burning
fiery
furnace
before
the
stubborn
pride
of
the
unregenerate
heart
is
brought
low
!
"
"
Perhaps
so
,
"
answers
the
young
girl
,
calmly
;
but
to
her
own
heart
she
says
that
she
defies
any
earthly
furnace
to
burn
hotlier
than
the
one
she
has
already
passed
through
.
CHAPTER
XXVII
.
IN
another
week
letters
have
passed
,
references
been
asked
and
given
;
Esther
proved
unimpeachably
respectable
;
the
amount
of
her
salary
agreed
upon
;
the
day
of
her
journey
into
—
shire
fixed
,
and
all
preliminaries
settled
previous
to
her
undertaking
the
agreeable
,
free
,
and
independent
office
of
companion
to
John
Blessington
,
Esq.
,
of
Blessington
Court
,
in
the
county
of
—
,
aged
eighty-nine
,
and
to
Harriet
Blessington
his
wife
,
aged
eighty
.
Miss
Craven
has
but
one
good-bye
to
say
,
and
on
the
afternoon
of
the
day
before
her
departure
she
stands
in
the
churchyard
ready
to
say
it
.
It
is
only
to
a
grave
.
Huge
cloud
headlands
,
great
leaden
capes
and
promontories
,
mournful
and
heavy
with
unwept
snow-tears
,
heap
and
pile
themselves
up
behind
the
dim
mirk
hills
;
it
snowed
last
night
,
but
the
snow
has
nearly
all
melted
;
only
enough
remains
to
make
the
old
dirty
church-tower
,
from
which
great
patches
of
whitewash
have
fallen
,
look
dirtier
than
ever
.
Upon
the
broken
headstones
,
all
awry
and
askew
with
age
and
negligence
,
the
lichens
flourish
dankly
.
Wet
nettles
and
faded
bents
overlie
,
overcross
each
cold
hillock
.
No
one
cares
to
weed
in
the
garden
of
the
dead
.
Each
hillock
is
the
last
chapter
in
some
forgotten
history
.
Oh
!
why
must
all
stories
that
are
told
truly
end
amongst
the
worms
?
Why
must
death
be
always
at
the
end
of
life
?
Oh
!
if
we
could
but
get
it
over
,
like
some
cruelest
operation
,
in
the
middle
or
early
part
of
our
little
day
;
so
that
we
might
have
some
half
a
life
,
some
quarter
or
twentieth
part
even
of
one
,
to
live
merrily
in
,
to
breathe
and
laugh
and
be
gay
in
,
without
,
in
our
cheerfullest
moments
,
experiencing
the
chilly
fear
of
feeling
the
black-cloaked
skeleton-headed
phantom
lay
his
bony
finger
on
us
,
saying
,
"
Thou
art
mine
!
"
Upon
the
grey
flat
tombstone
near
the
church-gate
the
great
grave
yew
has
been
dropping
her
scarlet
berries
,
one
by
one
—
berries
that
shine
,
like
little
lights
,
amid
the
night
of
her
changeless
foliage
:
there
they
lie
like
a
forgotten
rosary
,
that
some
holy
man
,
having
prayed
amongst
the
unpraying
dead
,
going
,
has
left
behind
him
.
Evening
is
closing
in
fast
;
the
air
is
raw
and
chill
;
no
one
that
can
avoid
it
is
outside
a
house
's
sheltering
walls
:
there
is
no
one
to
disturb
Esther
's
meeting
with
her
brother
.
What
cares
she
for
the
cold
,
or
for
the
six
feet
of
miry
earth
that
part
them
.
She
flings
herself
upon
the
sodden
mound
;
stretching
herself
all
along
upon
it
,
as
the
prophet
stretched
himself
on
the
young
dead
child
—
hand
to
hand
,
heart
to
heart
,
mouth
to
mouth
.
She
lays
her
lips
upon
the
soaked
soil
,
and
whispers
moaningly
,
"
Good-bye
,
Jack
—
good-bye
!
Oh
!
why
wo
n't
they
let
you
answer
me
?
Why
have
they
buried
you
so
deep
that
you
cannot
hear
me
?
"
Lord
God
!
of
what
stuff
can
Mary
and
Martha
have
been
made
,
to
have
overlived
the
awful
ecstasy
of
seeing
their
dead
come
forth
in
warm
supple
life
out
of
the
four-days-holding
grave
!
Their
hearts
must
have
been
made
of
tougher
fibre
than
ours
,
or
,
in
the
agony
of
that
terrible
rapture
,
soul
and
body
must
have
sundered
suddenly
,
and
they
fallen
down
into
the
arms
of
that
tomb
whence
their
brother
had
just
issued
in
his
ghastly
cerements
,
in
dazed
,
astonished
gladness
!
As
Esther
lifts
her
streaming
eyes
,
they
fall
upon
the
inscription
on
the
cross
at
the
grave-head
:
"
HERE
LIETH
THE
BODY
OF
JOHN
CRAVEN
,
WHO
DEPARTED
THIS
LIFE
SEPT.
24TH
,
186
—
.
AGED
21
YEARS
.
"
"
Lord
,
have
mercy
upon
me
.
a
sinner
!
"
She
casts
her
arms
about
the
base
of
the
holy
symbol
;
she
presses
her
panting
breast
against
the
stone
.
"
Lord
,
have
mercy
upon
me
,
a
sinner
!
"
she
cries
too
;
and
surely
the
live
sinner
needs
mercy
as
much
as
the
dead
one
?
And
as
she
so
lies
prostrate
,
with
her
forehead
leant
against
the
white
damp
marble
,
a
hideous
doubt
flashes
into
her
heart
—
sits
there
,
like
a
little
bitter
serpent
,
gnawing
it
:
"
What
if
there
be
no
Lord
!
What
if
I
am
praying
and
weeping
to
and
calling
upon
nothing
!
"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Let
me
not
go
mad
!
Sweet
Heaven
,
forgive
weak
thoughts
!
If
there
should
be
No
God
,
no
heaven
,
no
earth
in
the
void
world
—
The
wide
,
grave
,
lampless
,
deep
,
unpeopled
world
.
"
They
tell
us
—
do
n't
they
?
—
in
our
childhood
,
that
wickedness
makes
people
unhappy
:
I
think
the
converse
is
full
as
often
true
—
that
unhappiness
makes
people
wicked
.
A
little
icy
wind
creeps
coldly
amongst
the
strong
nettles
and
weak
sapless
bents
,
blowing
them
all
one
way
—
creeps
,
too
,
through
Esther
's
mourning
weeds
,
and
makes
a
numbness
about
her
shivering
breast
.
For
a
moment
an
angry
defiant
despair
masters
her
.
"
What
if
this
great
distant
being
,
who
,
without
any
foregone
sin
of
ours
,
has
laid
upon
us
the
punishment
of
life
—
in
the
hollow
of
whose
hand
we
lie
!
—
what
if
He
be
laughing
at
us
all
this
while
!
What
if
the
sight
of
our
writhings
,
of
our
unlovely
tears
and
grotesque
agonies
,
be
to
Him
,
in
His
high
prosperity
,
a
pleasant
diversion
!
"
So
thinking
,
against
her
will
she
involuntarily
clasps
closer
the
cross
in
her
straining
arms
—
involuntarily
moans
a
second
time
,
"
Lord
,
have
mercy
upon
me
,
a
sinner
!
"
No
—
no
!
it
cannot
be
so
!
it
is
one
of
those
things
that
are
too
horrible
to
be
believed
!
There
is
no
justice
here
!
none
!
but
it
exists
