wasanswered
;
what
could
be
answered
?
Selina
was
free
to
marry
if
she
liked
,
and
whom
she
liked
.
Perhaps
,
from
her
nature
,
it
was
idle
to
expect
her
to
marry
in
any
other
way
than
this
;
one
of
the
thousand
and
one
unions
where
the
man
desires
a
handsome
,
lady-like
wife
for
the
head
of
his
establishment
,
and
the
woman
wishes
an
elegant
establishment
to
be
mistress
of
;
so
they
strike
a
bargain
—
possibly
as
good
as
most
other
bargains
.
Still
,
with
one
faint
lingering
of
hope
,
Hilary
asked
if
she
had
quite
decided
.
"
Quite
.
He
wrote
to
me
last
night
,
and
I
gave
him
his
answer
this
morning
.
"
Selina
certainly
had
not
troubled
any
body
with
her
"
love
affairs
.
"
It
was
entirely
a
matter
of
business
.
The
sisters
saw
at
once
that
she
had
made
up
her
mind
.
Henceforward
there
could
be
no
criticism
of
Mr.
Peter
Ascott
.
Now
all
was
told
,
she
talked
freely
of
her
excellent
prospects
.
"
He
had
behaved
handsomely
—
very
much
so
.
He
makes
a
good
settlement
on
me
,
and
says
how
happy
he
will
be
to
help
my
family
,
so
as
to
enable
you
always
to
make
a
respectable
appearance
.
"
"
We
are
exceedingly
obliged
to
him
.
"
"
Do
n't
be
sharp
,
Hilary
.
He
means
well
.
And
he
must
feel
that
this
marriage
is
a
sort
of
—
ahem
!
condescension
on
my
part
,
which
I
never
should
have
dreamed
of
twenty
years
ago
.
"
Selina
sighed
;
could
it
be
at
the
thought
of
that
twenty
years
ago
?
Perhaps
,
shallow
as
she
seemed
,
this
woman
might
once
have
had
some
fancy
,
some
ideal
man
whom
she
expected
to
meet
and
marry
;
possibly
a
very
different
sort
of
man
from
Mr.
Peter
Ascott
.
However
,
the
sigh
was
but
momentary
;
she
plunged
back
again
into
all
the
arrangements
of
her
wedding
,
every
one
of
which
,
down
to
the
wedding-dress
,
she
had
evidently
decided
.
"
And
therefore
you
see
,
"
she
added
,
as
it
the
unimportant
,
almost
forgotten
item
of
discussion
had
suddenly
occurred
to
her
,
"
it
's
quite
impossible
that
my
sister
should
keep
a
shop
.
I
shall
tell
Mr.
Ascott
,
and
you
will
see
what
he
says
to
it
.
"
But
when
Mr.
Ascott
appeared
next
day
in
solemn
state
as
an
accepted
lover
he
seemed
to
care
very
little
about
the
matter
.
He
thought
it
was
a
good
thing
for
every
body
to
be
independent
;
did
not
see
why
young
women
—
he
begged
pardon
,
young
ladies
—
should
not
earn
their
own
bread
if
they
liked
.
He
only
wished
that
the
shop
were
a
little
further
off
than
Kensington
,
and
hoped
the
name
of
Leaf
would
not
be
put
over
the
door
.
But
the
bride-elect
,
indignant
and
annoyed
,
begged
her
lover
to
interfere
,
and
prevent
the
scheme
from
being
carried
out
.
"
Do
n't
vex
yourself
,
my
dear
Selina
,
"
said
he
,
dryly
—
how
Hilary
started
to
hear
the
stranger
use
the
household
name
—
"
but
I
ca
n't
see
that
it
's
my
business
to
interfere
.
I
marry
you
,
I
do
n't
marry
your
whole
family
.
"
"
Mr.
Ascott
is
quite
right
;
we
will
end
the
subject
,
"
said
Johanna
,
with
grave
dignity
while
Hilary
sat
with
burning
cheeks
,
thinking
that
,
miserable
as
the
family
had
been
,
it
had
never
till
now
known
real
degradation
.
But
her
heart
was
very
sore
that
day
.
It
the
morning
had
come
the
letter
from
India
never
omitted
,
never
delayed
;
Robert
Lyon
was
punctual
as
clock-work
in
every
thing
he
did
.
It
came
,
but
this
month
it
was
a
short
and
somewhat
sad
letter
—
hinting
of
failing
health
,
uncertain
prospects
;
full
of
a
bitter
longing
to
come
home
,
and
a
dread
that
it
would
be
years
before
that
longing
was
realized
.
"
My
only
consolation
is
,
"
he
wrote
,
for
once
betraying
himself
a
little
,
"
that
however
hard
my
life
out
here
may
be
,
I
bear
it
alone
.
"
But
that
consolation
was
not
so
easy
to
Hilary
.
That
they
two
should
be
wasting
their
youth
apart
,
when
just
a
little
heap
of
yellow
coins
—
of
which
men
like
Mr.
Ascott
had
such
profusion
—
would
bring
them
together
;
and
,
let
trials
be
many
or
poverty
hard
,
give
them
the
unutterable
joy
of
being
once
more
face
to
face
and
heart
to
heart
—
oh
,
it
was
sore
,
sore
!
Yet
when
she
went
up
from
the
parlor
,
where
the
newly-affianced
couple
sat
together
,
"
making-believe
"
a
passion
that
did
not
exist
,
and
acting
out
the
sham
courtship
,
proper
for
the
gentleman
to
pay
and
the
lady
to
receive
—
when
she
shut
her
bedroom
door
,
and
there
,
sitting
in
the
cold
,
read
again
and
again
Robert
Lyon
's
letter
to
Johanna
,
so
good
,
so
honest
;
so
sad
,
yet
so
bravely
enduring
—
Hilary
was
comforted
.
She
felt
that
true
love
,
in
its
most
unsatisfied
longings
,
its
most
cruel
delays
,
nay
,
even
its
sharpest
agonies
of
hopeless
separation
,
is
sweeter
ten
thousand
times
than
the
most
"
respectable
"
of
loveless
marriages
such
as
this
.
So
,
at
the
week
's
end
,
Hilary
went
patiently
to
her
work
at
Kensington
,
and
Selina
began
the
preparations
for
her
wedding
.
CHAPTER
XV
.
In
relating
so
much
about
her
mistresses
,
I
have
lately
seemed
to
overlook
Elizabeth
Hand
.
She
was
a
person
easy
enough
to
be
overlooked
.
She
never
put
herself
forward
,
not
even
now
,
when
Miss
Hilary
's
absence
caused
the
weight
of
housekeeping
and
domestic
management
to
fall
chiefly
upon
her
.
She
went
about
her
duties
as
soberly
and
silently
as
she
had
done
in
her
girlhood
;
even
Miss
Leaf
could
not
draw
her
into
much
demonstrativeness
:
she
was
one
of
those
people
who
never
"
come
out
"
till
they
are
strongly
needed
,
and
then
—
But
it
remained
to
be
proved
what
this
girl
would
be
.
Years
afterward
Hilary
remembered
with
what
a
curious
reticence
Elizabeth
used
to
go
about
in
those
days
:
how
she
remained
as
old-fashioned
as
ever
;
acquired
no
London
ways
,
no
fripperies
of
dress
or
flippancies
of
manner
.
Also
,
that
she
never
complained
of
anything
;
though
the
discomforts
of
her
lodging-house
life
must
have
been
great
—
greater
than
her
mistresses
had
any
idea
of
at
the
time
.
Slowly
,
out
of
her
rough
,
unpliant
girlhood
,
was
forming
that
character
of
self-reliance
and
self-control
,
which
,
in
all
ranks
,
makes
of
some
women
the
helpers
rather
than
the
helped
,
the
laborers
rather
than
the
pleasure-seekers
;
women
whose
constant
lot
it
seems
to
be
to
walk
on
the
shadowed
side
of
life
,
to
endure
rather
than
to
enjoy
.
Elizabeth
had
very
little
actual
enjoyment
.
She
made
no
acquaintances
,
and
never
asked
for
holidays
.
Indeed
she
did
not
seem
to
care
for
any
.
Her
great
treat
was
when
,
on
a
Sunday
afternoon
,
Miss
Hilary
sometimes
took
her
to
Westminster
Abbey
or
St.
Paul
's
;
when
her
pleasure
and
gratitude
always
struck
her
mistress
—
may
,
even
soothed
her
,
and
won
her
from
her
own
many
anxieties
.
It
is
such
a
blessing
to
be
able
to
make
any
other
human
being
,
even
for
an
hour
or
two
,
entirely
happy
.
Except
these
bright
Sundays
,
Elizabeth
's
whole
time
was
spent
in
waiting
upon
Miss
Leaf
,
who
had
seemed
to
grow
suddenly
frail
and
old
.
It
might
be
that
living
without
her
child
six
days
out
of
the
seven
was
a
greater
trial
than
had
at
first
appeared
to
the
elder
sister
,
who
until
now
had
never
parted
with
her
since
she
was
born
;
or
it
was
perhaps
a
more
commonplace
and
yet
natural
cause
,
the
living
in
London
lodgings
,
without
even
a
change
of
air
from
room
to
room
;
and
the
want
of
little
comforts
and
luxuries
,
which
,
with
all
Hilary
's
care
,
were
as
impossible
as
ever
to
their
limited
means
.
For
Selina
's
engagement
,
which
,
as
a
matter
of
decorum
,
she
had
insisted
should
last
six
months
,
did
not
lessen
expenses
.
Old
gowns
were
shabby
,
and
omnibuses
impossible
to
the
future
Mrs.
Ascott
of
Russell
Square
;
and
though
,
to
do
her
justice
,
she
spent
as
little
as
to
her
self-pleasing
nature
was
possible
,
still
she
spent
something
.
"
It
's
the
last
;
I
shall
never
cost
you
any
more
,
"
she
would
say
,
complacently
;
and
revert
to
that
question
of
absorbing
interest
,
her
trousseau
,
an
extremely
handsome
one
,
provided
liberally
by
Mr.
Ascott
.
Sorely
had
this
arrangement
jarred
upon
the
pride
of
the
Leaf
family
;
yet
it
was
inevitable
.
But
no
personal
favors
would
the
other
two
sisters
have
accepted
from
Mr.
Ascott
,
even
had
he
offered
them
—
which
he
did
not
—
save
a
dress
each
for
the
marriage
,
and
a
card
for
the
marriage
breakfast
,
which
,
he
also
arranged
,
was
to
take
place
at
a
hotel
.
So
,
in
spite
of
the
expected
wedding
,
there
was
little
change
in
the
dull
life
that
went
on
at
No.
15.
Its
only
brightness
was
when
Miss
Hilary
came
home
from
Saturday
to
Monday
.
And
in
those
brief
glimpses
,
when
,
as
was
natural
,
she
on
her
side
,
and
they
on
theirs
,
put
on
their
best
face
,
so
to
speak
,
each
trying
to
hide
from
the
other
any
special
care
,
it
so
fell
out
that
Miss
Hilary
never
discovered
a
thing
which
,
week
by
week
,
Elizabeth
resolved
to
speak
to
her
about
,
and
yet
never
could
.
For
it
was
not
her
own
affair
;
it
seemed
like
presumptuously
middling
in
the
affairs
of
the
family
.
Above
all
,
it
involved
the
necessity
of
something
which
looked
like
tale-bearing
and
backbiting
of
a
person
she
disliked
,
and
there
was
in
Elizabeth
—
servant
as
she
was
—
an
instinctive
chivalrous
honor
which
made
her
especially
anxious
to
be
just
to
her
enemies
.
Enemy
,
however
,
is
a
large
word
to
use
;
and
yet
day
by
day
her
feelings
grew
more
bitter
toward
the
person
concerned
—
namely
.
Mr.
Ascott
Leaf
.
It
was
not
from
any
badness
in
him
:
he
was
the
sort
of
young
man
always
likely
to
be
a
favorite
with
what
would
be
termed
his
"
inferiors
;
"
easy
,
good-tempered
,
and
gentlemanly
,
giving
a
good
deal
of
trouble
certainly
,
but
giving
it
so
agreeably
that
few
servants
would
have
grumbled
,
and
paying
for
it
—
as
he
apparently
thought
every
thing
could
be
paid
for
—
with
a
pleasant
word
and
a
handful
of
silver
.
But
Elizabeth
's
distaste
for
him
had
deeper
roots
.
The
principal
one
was
his
exceeding
indifference
to
his
aunts
'
affairs
,
great
and
small
,
from
the
marriage
,
which
he
briefly
designated
as
a
"
jolly
lark
,
"
to
the
sharp
economies
which
,
even
with
the
addition
of
Miss
Hilary
's
salary
,
were
still
requisite
.
—
None
of
these
latter
did
he
ever
seem
to
notice
,
except
when
they
pressed
upon
himself
;
when
he
neither
scolded
nor
argued
,
but
simply
went
out
and
avoided
them
.
He
was
now
absent
from
home
more
than
ever
,
and
apparently
tried
as
much
as
possible
to
keep
the
household
in
the
dark
as
to
his
movements
—
leaving
at
uncertain
times
,
never
saying
what
hour
he
would
be
back
,
or
if
he
said
so
,
never
keeping
to
his
word
.
This
was
the
more
annoying
as
there
were
a
number
of
people
continually
inquiring
for
him
,
hanging
about
the
house
,
and
waiting
to
see
him
"
on
business
;
"
and
some
of
these
occasionally
commented
on
the
young
gentleman
in
such
unflattering
terms
that
Elizabeth
was
afraid
they
would
reach
the
ear
of
Mrs.
Jones
,
and
henceforward
tried
always
to
attend
to
the
door
herself
.
But
Mrs.
Jones
was
a
wide
awake
woman
.
She
had
not
let
lodgings
for
thirty
years
for
nothing
.
Ere
long
she
discovered
,
and
took
good
care
to
inform
Elizabeth
of
her
discovery
,
that
Mr.
Ascott
Leaf
was
what
is
euphuistically
termed
"
in
difficulties
.
"
And
here
one
word
,
lest
in
telling
this
poor
lad
's
story
I
may
be
supposed
to
tell
it
harshly
or
uncharitably
,
as
if
there
was
no
crime
greater
than
that
which
a
large
portion
of
society
seems
to
count
as
none
;
as
if
,
at
the
merest
mention
of
the
ugly
word
debt
,
this
rabid
author
flew
out
,
and
made
all
the
ultra
virtuous
persons
whose
history
is
here
told
fly
out
,
like
turkeys
,
after
a
bit
of
red
cloth
which
is
a
very
harmless
scrap
of
red
cloth
after
all
.
Most
true
,
some
kind
of
debt
deserves
only
compassion
.
The
merchant
suddenly
failing
;
the
tenderly
reared
family
who
by
some
strange
blunder
or
unkind
kindness
have
been
kept
in
ignorance
of
their
real
circumstances
,
and
been
spending
pounds
for
which
there
was
only
pence
to
pay
;
the
individuals
,
men
or
women
,
who
,
without
any
laxity
of
principle
,
are
such
utter
children
in
practice
,
that
they
have
to
learn
the
value
and
use
of
money
by
hard
experience
,
much
as
a
child
does
,
and
are
little
better
than
children
in
all
that
concerns
L
.
S.
D
.
to
the
end
of
their
days
.
But
these
are
debtors
by
accident
,
not
error
.
The
deliberate
debtor
,
who
orders
what
he
knows
he
has
no
means
of
paying
for
;
the
pleasure
loving
debtor
,
who
can
not
renounce
one
single
luxury
for
conscience
'
sake
;
the
well-meaning
,
lazy
debtor
,
who
might
make
"
ends
meet
,
"
but
does
not
,
simply
because
he
will
not
take
the
trouble
;
upon
such
as
these
it
is
right
to
have
no
mercy
—
they
deserve
none
.
To
which
of
these
classes
young
Ascott
Leaf
belonged
his
story
will
show
.
I
tell
it
,
or
rather
let
it
tell
itself
,
and
point
its
own
moral
;
it
is
the
story
of
hundreds
and
thousands
.
That
a
young
fellow
should
not
enjoy
his
youth
would
be
hard
;
that
it
should
not
be
pleasant
to
him
to
dress
well
,
live
well
,
and
spend
with
open
hand
upon
himself
as
well
as
others
,
no
one
will
question
.
No
one
would
ever
wish
it
otherwise
.
Many
a
kindly
spendthrift
of
twenty-one
makes
a
prudent
paterfamilias
at
forty
,
while
a
man
who
in
his
twenties
showed
a
purposeless
niggardliness
,
would
at
sixty
grow
into
the
most
contemptible
miser
alive
.
There
is
something
even
in
the
thoughtless
liberality
of
youth
to
which
one
's
heart
warms
,
even
while
one
's
wisdom
reproves
.
—
But
what
struck
Elizabeth
was
that
Ascott
's
liberalities
were
always
toward
himself
,
and
himself
only
.
Sometimes
when
she
took
in
a
parcel
of
new
clothes
,
while
others
yet
unpaid
for
were
tossing
in
wasteful
disorder
about
his
room
,
or
when
she
cleaned
indefinite
pairs
of
handsome
boots
,
and
washed
dozens
of
the
finest
cambric
pocket-handkerchiefs
,
her
spirit
grew
hot
within
her
to
remember
Miss
Hilary
's
countless
wants
and
contrivances
in
the
matter
of
dress
,
and
all
the
little
domestic
comforts
which
Miss
Leaf
's
frail
health
required
—
things
which
never
once
seemed
to
cross
the
nephew
's
imagination
.
Of
course
not
,
it
will
be
said
;
how
could
a
young
man
be
expected
to
trouble
himself
about
these
things
?
But
they
do
though
.
Answer
,
many
a
widow
's
son
;
many
a
heedful
brother
of
orphan
sisters
;
many
a
solitary
clerk
living
and
paying
his
way
upon
the
merest
pittance
;
is
it
not
better
to
think
of
others
than
one
's
self
?
Can
a
man
,
even
a
young
man
,
find
his
highest
happiness
in
mere
personal
enjoyment
?
However
,
let
me
cease
throwing
these
pebbles
of
preaching
under
the
wheels
of
my
story
;
as
it
moves
on
it
will
preach
enough
for
itself
.
Elizabeth
's
annoyances
,
suspicions
,
and
conscience-pricks
as
to
whether
she
ought
or
ought
not
to
communicate
both
,
came
to
an
end
at
last
.
Gradually
she
made
up
her
mind
that
,
even
if
it
did
look
like
tale
bearing
,
on
the
following
Saturday
night
Miss
Hilary
must
know
all
.
It
was
an
anxious
week
;
for
Miss
Leaf
had
fallen
ill.
Not
seriously
;
and
she
never
complained
until
her
sister
had
left
,
when
she
returned
to
her
bed
and
did
not
again
rise
.
She
would
not
have
Miss
Hilary
sent
for
,
nor
Miss
Selina
,
who
was
away
paying
a
ceremonious
prenuptial
visit
to
Mr.
Ascott
's
partner
's
wife
at
Dulwich
.
"
I
do
n't
want
any
thing
that
you
can
not
do
for
me
.
You
are
becoming
a
first
rate
nurse
.
Elizabeth
,
"
she
said
,
with
that
passive
,
peaceful
smile
which
almost
frightened
the
girl
;
it
seemed
as
if
she
were
slipping
away
from
this
world
and
all
its
cares
into
another
existence
.
Elizabeth
felt
that
to
tell
her
any
thing
about
her
nephew
's
affairs
was
perfectly
impossible
.
How
thankful
she
was
that
in
the
quiet
of
the
sick-room
her
mistress
was
kept
in
ignorance
of
the
knocks
and
inquiries
at
the
door
,
and
especially
of
a
certain
ominous
paper
which
had
fallen
into
Mrs.
Jones
's
hands
,
and
informed
her
,
as
she
took
good
care
to
inform
Elizabeth
,
that
any
day
"
the
bailiffs
"
might
be
after
her
young
master
.
"
And
the
sooner
the
whole
set
of
you
clear
out
of
my
house
the
better
;
I
am
a
decent
respectable
woman
,
"
said
Mrs.
Jones
,
that
very
morning
;
and
Elizabeth
had
had
to
beg
her
as
a
favor
not
to
disturb
her
sick
mistress
,
but
to
wait
one
day
,
till
Miss
Hilary
came
home
.
Also
,
when
Ascott
,
ending
with
a
cheerful
and
careless
countenance
his
ten
minutes
'
after
breakfast
chat
in
his
aunt
's
room
,
had
met
Elizabeth
on
the
staircase
,
he
had
stopped
to
bid
her
say
if
any
body
wanted
him
he
was
gone
to
Birmingham
,
and
would
not
be
home
till
Monday
.
And
on
Elizabeth
's
hesitating
,
she
having
determined
to
tell
no
more
of
these
involuntary
lies
,
he
had
been
very
angry
,
and
then
stooped
to
entreaties
,
begging
her
to
do
as
he
asked
,
or
it
would
be
the
ruin
of
him
.
Which
she
understood
well
enough
when
,
all
the
day
,
she
—
grown
painfully
wise
,
poor
girl
!
—
watched
a
Jewish-looking
man
hanging
about
the
house
,
and
noticing
every
body
that
went
in
or
out
of
it
.
Now
,
sitting
at
Miss
Leaf
's
window
,
she
fancied
she
saw
this
man
disappear
into
the
gin-palace
opposite
,
and
at
the
same
moment
a
figure
darted
hurriedly
round
the
street
corner
,
and
into
the
door
of
No.
15.
Elizabeth
looked
to
see
if
her
mistress
were
asleep
,
and
then
crept
quietly
out
of
the
room
,
shutting
the
door
after
her
.
Listening
,
she
heard
the
sound
of
the
latch-key
,
and
of
some
one
coming
stealthily
up
stairs
.
"
Hollo
!
—
Oh
,
it
's
only
you
,
Elizabeth
.
"
"
Shall
I
light
your
candle
,
sir
?
"
But
when
she
did
the
sight
was
not
pleasant
.
Drenched
with
rain
,
his
collar
pulled
up
,
and
his
hat
slouched
,
so
as
in
some
measure
to
act
as
a
disguise
,
breathless
and
trembling
—
hardly
any
body
would
have
recognized
in
this
discreditable
object
that
gentlemanly
young
man
,
Mr.
Ascott
Leaf
.
He
staggered
into
his
room
and
threw
himself
across
the
bed
.
"
Do
you
want
anything
,
Sir
?
"
said
Elizabeth
,
from
the
door
.
"
No
—
yes
—
stay
a
minute
.
Elizabeth
,
are
you
to
be
trusted
?
"
"
I
hope
I
am
,
Sir
.
"
"
The
bailiffs
are
after
me
.
I
've
just
dodged
them
.
If
they
know
I
'm
here
the
game
's
all
up
—
and
it
will
kill
my
aunt
.
"
Shocked
as
she
was
,
Elizabeth
was
glad
to
hear
him
say
that
—
glad
to
see
the
burst
of
real
emotion
with
which
he
flung
himself
down
on
the
pillow
,
muttering
all
sorts
of
hopeless
self-accusations
.
"
Come
,
Sir
,
'
tis
no
use
taking
on
so
,
"
said
she
,
much
as
she
would
have
spoken
to
a
child
,
for
there
was
something
childish
rather
than
man
like
in
Ascott
's
distress
.
Nevertheless
,
she
pitied
him
,
with
the
unreasoning
pity
a
kind
heart
gives
to
any
creature
,
who
,
blameworthy
or
not
,
has
fallen
into
trouble
.
"
What
do
you
mean
to
do
?
"
"
Nothing
.
I
'm
cleaned
out
.
And
I
have
n't
a
friend
in
the
world
.
"
He
turned
his
face
to
the
wall
in
perfect
despair
.
Elizabeth
tried
hard
not
to
sit
in
judgment
upon
what
the
catechism
would
call
her
"
betters
;
"
and
yet
her
own
strong
instinct
of
almost
indefinite
endurance
turned
with
something
approaching
contempt
from
this
weak
,
lightsome
nature
,
broken
by
the
first
touch
of
calamity
.
"
Come
,
it
's
no
use
making
things
worse
than
they
are
.
If
no
body
knows
that
you
are
here
,
lock
your
door
and
keep
quiet
.
I
'll
bring
you
some
dinner
when
I
bring
up
Missis
'
tea
,
and
not
even
Mrs.
Jones
will
be
any
the
wiser
.
"
"
You
're
a
brick
,
Elizabeth
—
a
regular
brick
!
"
cried
the
young
fellow
,
brightening
up
at
the
least
relief
.
"
That
will
be
capital
.
—
Get
me
a
good
slice
of
beef
,
or
ham
,
or
something
.
And
mind
you
,
do
n't
forget
!
—
a
regular
stunning
bottle
of
pale
ale
.
"
"
Very
well
,
Sir
.
"
The
acquiescence
was
somewhat
sullen
,
and
had
he
watched
Elizabeth
's
face
he
might
have
seen
there
an
expression
not
too
flattering
.
But
she
faithfully
brought
him
his
dinner
,
and
kept
his
secret
,
even
though
,
hearing
from
over
the
staircase
Mrs.
Jones
resolutely
deny
that
Mr.
Leaf
had
been
at
home
since
morning
,
she
felt
very
much
as
if
she
were
conniving
at
a
lie
.
With
a
painful
,
half-guilty
consciousness
she
waited
for
her
mistress
's
usual
question
.
"
Is
my
nephew
come
home
?
"
but
fortunately
it
was
not
asked
.
—
Miss
Leaf
lay
quiet
and
passive
,
and
her
faithful
nurse
settled
her
for
the
night
with
a
strangely
solemn
feeling
,
as
if
she
were
leaving
her
to
her
last
rest
,
safe
and
at
peace
before
the
overhanging
storm
broke
upon
the
family
.
But
all
shadow
of
this
storm
seemed
to
have
passed
away
from
him
who
was
its
cause
.
As
soon
as
the
house
was
still
Ascott
crept
down
and
fell
to
his
supper
with
as
good
an
appetite
as
possible
.
He
even
became
free
and
conversational
.
"
Do
n't
look
so
glum
,
Elizabeth
.
I
shall
soon
weather
through
.
Old
Ascott
will
fork
out
;
he
could
n't
help
it
.
I
'm
to
be
his
nephew
you
know
.
Oh
,
that
was
a
clever
catch
of
Aunt
Selina
's
.
If
only
Aunt
Hilary
would
try
another
like
it
.
"
"
If
you
please
,
Sir
,
I
'm
going
to
bed
.
"
"
Off
with
you
,
then
,
and
I
'll
not
forget
the
gown
at
Christmas
.
You
're
a
sharp
young
woman
,
and
I
'm
much
obliged
to
you
.
"
And
for
a
moment
he
looked
as
if
he
were
about
to
make
the
usual
unmannerly
acknowledgment
of
civility
from
a
young
gentleman
to
a
servant
maid
,
viz.
,
kissing
her
,
but
he
pulled
a
face
and
drew
back
.
He
really
could
n't
;
she
was
so
very
plain
.
At
this
moment
there
came
a
violent
ring
,
and
"
Fire
!
"
was
shouted
through
the
key-hole
of
the
door
.
Terrified
,
Elizabeth
opened
it
,
when
,
with
a
burst
of
laughter
,
a
man
rushed
in
and
laid
hands
upon
Ascott
.
It
was
the
sheriff
's
officer
.
When
his
trouble
came
upon
him
Ascott
's
manliness
returned
.
He
turned
very
white
,
but
he
made
no
opposition
;
had
even
enough
of
his
wits
about
him
—
or
something
better
than
wits
—
to
stop
Mrs.
Jones
from
rushing
up
in
alarm
and
indignation
to
arouse
Miss
Leaf
.
"
No
;
she
'll
know
it
quite
soon
enough
.
—
Let
her
sleep
till
morning
.
Elizabeth
,
look
here
.
"
He
wrote
upon
a
card
the
address
of
the
place
he
was
to
be
taken
to
.
"
Give
Aunt
Hilary
this
.
Say
if
she
can
think
of
a
way
to
get
me
out
of
this
horrid
mess
;
but
I
do
n't
deserve
—
Never
mind
.
Come
on
,
you
fellows
.
"
He
pulled
his
hat
over
his
eyes
,
jumped
into
the
cab
,
and
was
gone
.
The
whole
thing
had
not
occupied
five
minutes
.
Stupefied
,
Elizabeth
stood
and
considered
what
was
best
to
be
done
.
Miss
Hilary
must
be
told
;
but
how
to
get
at
her
in
the
middle
of
the
night
,
thereby
leaving
her
mistress
to
the
mercy
of
Mrs.
Jones
.
It
would
never
do
.
Suddenly
she
thought
of
Miss
Balquidder
.
—
She
might
send
a
message
.
No
,
not
a
message
—
for
the
family
misery
and
disgrace
must
not
be
betrayed
to
a
stranger
—
but
a
letter
to
Kensington
.
With
an
effort
Elizabeth
composed
herself
sufficiently
to
write
one
—
her
first
—
to
her
dear
Miss
Hilary
.
"
HONORED
MADAM
,
—
Mr
.
Leaf
has
got
himself
into
trouble
,
and
is
taken
away
somewhere
;
and
I
dare
not
tell
missis
;
and
I
wish
you
was
at
home
,
as
she
is
not
well
,
but
better
than
she
has
been
,
and
she
shall
know
nothing
about
it
till
you
come
.
—
Your
obedient
and
affectionate
servant
,
ELIZABETH
HAND
.
"
Taking
Ascott
's
latch-key
she
quitted
the
house
and
slipped
out
into
the
dark
night
,
almost
losing
her
way
among
the
gloomy
squares
,
where
she
met
not
a
creature
except
the
solitary
policeman
,
plashing
steadily
along
the
wet
pavement
.
When
he
turned
the
glimmer
of
his
bull
's
eye
upon
her
she
started
like
a
guilty
creature
,
till
she
remembered
that
she
really
was
doing
nothing
wrong
,
and
so
need
not
be
afraid
of
any
thing
.
This
was
her
simple
creed
,
which
Miss
Hilary
had
taught
her
,
and
it
upheld
her
,
even
till
she
knocked
at
Miss
Balquidder
's
door
.
There
,
poor
girl
,
her
heart
sank
,
especially
when
Miss
Balquidder
,
in
an
anomalous
costume
and
a
severe
voice
,
opened
the
door
herself
,
and
asked
who
was
there
,
disturbing
a
respectable
family
at
this
late
hour
?
Elizabeth
answered
,
what
she
had
before
determined
to
say
,
as
sufficiently
explaining
her
errand
,
and
yet
betraying
nothing
that
her
mistress
might
wish
concealed
.
"
Please
,
ma'am
,
I
'm
Miss
Leaf
's
servant
.
My
missis
is
ill
,
and
I
want
a
letter
sent
at
once
to
Miss
Hilary
.
"
"
Oh
!
come
in
,
then
.
Elizabeth
,
I
think
,
your
name
is
?
"
"
Yes
,
ma'am
.
"
"
What
made
you
leave
home
at
this
hour
of
the
night
?
Did
your
mistress
send
you
?
"
"
No.
"
"
Is
she
so
very
ill
?
It
seems
sudden
.
I
saw
Miss
Hilary
to-day
,
and
she
knew
nothing
at
all
about
it
.
"
Elizabeth
shrank
a
little
before
the
keen
eye
that
seemed
to
read
her
through
.
"
There
's
more
amiss
than
you
have
told
me
,
young
woman
.
Is
it
because
your
mistress
is
in
serious
danger
that
you
want
to
send
for
her
sister
?
"
"
No.
"
"
What
is
it
then
?
You
had
better
tell
me
at
once
.
I
hate
concealment
.
"
It
was
a
trial
;
but
Elizabeth
held
her
ground
.
"
I
beg
your
pardon
,
ma'am
;
but
I
do
n't
think
missis
would
like
any
body
to
know
,
and
therefore
I
'd
rather
not
tell
you
.
"
Now
the
honest
Scotswoman
,
as
she
said
,
hated
any
thing
underhand
,
but
she
respected
the
right
of
every
human
being
to
maintain
silence
if
necessary
.
She
looked
sharply
in
Elizabeth
's
face
,
which
apparently
re-assured
her
,
for
she
said
,
not
unkindly
,
"
Very
well
,
child
,
keep
your
mistress
's
secrets
by
all
means
.
Only
tell
me
what
you
want
.
Shall
I
take
a
cab
and
fetch
Miss
Hilary
at
once
?
"
Elizabeth
thanked
her
,
but
said
she
thought
that
would
not
do
;
it
would
be
better
just
to
send
the
note
the
first
thing
to-morrow
morning
,
and
then
Miss
Hilary
would
come
home
just
as
if
nothing
had
happened
,
and
Miss
Leaf
would
not
be
frighted
by
her
sudden
appearance
.
"
You
are
a
good
,
mindful
girl
,
"
said
Miss
Balquidder
.
"
How
did
you
learn
to
be
so
sensible
?
"
At
the
kindly
word
and
manner
,
Elizabeth
,
bewildered
and
exhausted
with
the
excitement
she
had
gone
through
,
and
agitated
by
the
feeling
of
having
,
for
the
first
time
in
her
life
,
to
act
on
her
own
responsibility
,
gave
way
a
little
.
She
did
not
exactly
cry
,
but
she
was
very
near
it
.
Miss
Balquidder
called
over
the
stair-head
,
in
her
quick
,
imperative
voice
—
"
David
,
is
your
wife
away
to
her
bed
yet
?
"
"
No
,
ma'am
.
"
"
Then
tell
her
to
fetch
this
young
woman
to
the
kitchen
and
give
her
some
supper
.
And
afterward
,
will
you
see
her
safe
home
,
poor
lassie
?
She
's
awfully
tired
,
you
see
.
"
"
Yes
,
ma'am
.
"
And
following
David
's
gray
head
,
Elizabeth
,
for
the
first
time
since
she
came
to
London
,
took
a
comfortable
meal
in
a
comfortable
kitchen
,
seasoned
with
such
stories
of
Miss
Balquidder
's
goodness
and
generosity
,
that
when
,
an
hour
after
,
she
went
home
and
to
sleep
,
it
was
with
a
quieter
and
more
hopeful
than
she
could
have
believed
possible
under
the
circumstances
.
CHAPTER
XVI
.
Next
morning
,
while
with
that
cheerful
,
unanxious
countenance
which
those
about
an
invalid
must
learn
continually
to
wear
,
Elizabeth
was
trying
to
persuade
her
mistress
not
to
rise
,
she
heard
a
knock
,
and
made
some
excuse
for
escaping
.
She
well
knew
what
it
was
and
who
had
come
.
There
,
in
the
parlor
,
sat
Miss
Hilary
,
Mrs.
Jones
talking
at
her
rather
than
to
her
,
for
she
hardly
seemed
to
hear
.
But
that
she
had
heard
every
thing
was
clear
enough
.
Her
drawn
white
face
,
the
tight
clasp
of
her
hands
,
showed
that
the
ill
tidings
had
struck
her
hard
.
"
Go
away
,
Mrs.
Jones
,
"
cried
Elizabeth
,
fiercely
.
"
Miss
Hilary
will
call
when
she
wants
you
.
"
And
with
an
ingenious
movement
that
just
fell
short
of
a
push
,
somehow
the
woman
was
got
on
the
other
side
of
the
parlor
door
,
which
Elizabeth
immediately
shut
.
Then
Miss
Hilary
stretched
her
hands
across
the
table
and
looked
up
piteously
in
her
servant
's
face
.
Only
a
servant
;
only
that
poor
servant
to
whom
she
could
look
for
any
comfort
in
this
sore
trouble
,
this
bitter
humiliation
.
There
was
no
attempt
at
disguise
or
concealment
between
mistress
and
maid
.
"
Mrs.
Jones
has
told
me
every
thing
,
Elizabeth
.
How
is
my
sister
?
She
does
not
know
?
"
"
No
;
and
I
think
she
is
a
good
deal
better
this
morning
.
She
has
been
very
bad
all
week
;
only
she
would
not
let
me
send
for
you
.
She
is
really
getting
well
now
;
I
'm
sure
of
that
!
"
"
Thank
God
!
"
And
then
Miss
Hilary
began
to
weep
.
Elizabeth
also
was
thankful
,
even
for
those
tears
,
for
she
had
been
perplexed
by
the
hard
,
dry-eyed
look
of
misery
,
deeper
than
anything
she
could
comprehend
,
or
than
the
circumstances
seemed
to
warrant
.
It
was
deeper
.
The
misery
was
not
only
Ascott
's
arrest
;
many
a
lad
has
got
into
debt
and
got
out
again
—
the
first
taste
of
the
law
proving
a
warning
to
him
for
life
;
but
it
was
this
ominous
"
beginning
of
the
end
.
"
The
fatal
end
—
which
seemed
to
overhang
like
a
hereditary
cloud
,
to
taint
as
with
hereditary
disease
,
the
Leaf
family
.
Another
bitterness
(
and
who
shall
blame
it
,
for
when
love
is
really
love
,
have
not
the
lovers
a
right
to
be
one
another
's
first
thought
?
)
—
what
would
Robert
Lyon
say
?
To
his
honest
Scotch
nature
poverty
was
nothing
;
honor
every
thing
.
She
knew
his
horror
of
debt
was
even
equal
to
her
own
.
This
,
and
her
belief
in
his
freedom
from
all
false
pride
,
had
sustained
her
against
many
doubts
lest
he
might
think
the
less
of
her
because
of
her
present
position
—
might
feel
ashamed
could
he
see
her
sitting
at
her
ledger
in
that
high
desk
,
or
even
occasionally
serving
in
the
shop
.
Many
a
time
things
she
would
have
passed
over
lightly
on
her
own
account
she
had
felt
on
his
;
felt
how
they
would
annoy
and
vex
him
.
The
exquisitely
natural
thought
which
Tennyson
has
put
into
poetry
—
"
If
I
am
dear
to
some
one
else
,
Then
I
should
be
to
myself
more
dear
"
—
had
often
come
,
prosaically
enough
perhaps
,
into
her
head
,
and
prevented
her
from
spoiling
her
little
hands
with
unnecessarily
rough
work
,
or
carelessly
passing
down
ill
streets
and
by-ways
,
where
she
knew
Robert
Lyon
,
had
he
been
in
London
,
would
never
have
allowed
her
to
go
.
Now
what
did
such
things
signify
?
What
need
of
taking
care
of
herself
?
These
were
all
superficial
,
external
disgraces
,
the
real
disgrace
was
within
.
The
plague-spot
had
burst
out
anew
;
it
seemed
as
if
this
day
were
the
recommencement
of
that
bitter
life
of
penury
,
misery
,
and
humiliation
,
familiar
through
three
generations
to
the
women
of
the
Leaf
family
.
It
appeared
like
a
fate
.
No
use
to
try
and
struggle
out
of
it
,
stretching
her
arms
up
to
Robert
Lyon
's
tender
,
honest
,
steadfast
heart
,
there
to
be
sheltered
,
taken
care
of
,
and
made
happy
.
No
happiness
for
her
!
Nothing
but
to
go
on
enduring
and
enduring
to
the
end
.
Such
was
Hilary
's
first
emotion
;
morbid
perhaps
,
yet
excusable
.
It
might
have
lasted
longer
—
though
in
her
healthy
nature
it
could
not
have
lasted
very
long
—
had
not
the
reaction
come
,
suddenly
and
completely
,
by
the
opening
of
the
parlor
door
,
and
the
appearance
of
Miss
Leaf
.
Miss
Leaf
—
pale
,
indeed
;
but
neither
alarmed
nor
agitated
,
who
hearing
somehow
that
her
child
had
arrived
,
had
hastily
dressed
herself
,
and
come
down
stairs
,
in
order
not
to
frighten
Hilary
.
And
as
she
took
her
in
her
arms
,
and
kissed
her
with
those
mother-like
kisses
,
which
were
the
sweetest
Hilary
had
as
yet
ever
known
—
the
sharp
anguish
went
out
of
the
poor
girl
's
heart
.
"
Oh
,
Johanna
!
I
can
bear
any
thing
as
long
as
I
have
you
"
And
so
in
this
simple
and
natural
way
the
miserable
secret
about
Ascott
came
out
.
Being
once
out
,
it
did
not
seem
half
so
dreadful
;
nor
was
its
effect
nearly
so
serious
as
Miss
Hilary
and
Elizabeth
had
feared
.
—
Miss
Leaf
bore
it
wonderfully
;
she
might
almost
have
known
it
beforehand
;
they
would
have
thought
she
had
,
but
that
she
said
decidedly
she
had
not
.
"
Still
you
need
not
have
minded
telling
me
;
though
it
was
very
good
and
thoughtful
of
you
Elizabeth
.
You
have
gone
through
a
great
deal
for
our
sakes
,
my
poor
girl
.
"
Elizabeth
burst
into
one
smothered
sob
the
first
and
the
last
.
"
Nay
,
"
said
Miss
Leaf
,
very
kindly
;
for
this
unwonted
emotion
in
their
servant
moved
them
both
.
"
You
shall
tell
me
the
rest
another
time
.
Go
down
now
,
and
get
Miss
Hilary
some
breakfast
.
"
When
Elizabeth
had
departed
the
sisters
turned
to
one
another
.
They
did
not
talk
much
;
where
was
the
use
of
it
?
They
both
knew
the
worst
,
both
as
to
facts
and
fears
.
"
What
must
be
done
.
Johanna
?
"
Johanna
,
after
a
long
pause
,
said
,
"
I
see
but
one
thing
—
to
get
him
home
.
"
Hilary
started
up
,
and
walked
to
and
fro
along
the
room
.
"
No
,
not
that
.
I
will
never
agree
to
it
.
—
We
can
not
help
him
.
He
does
not
deserve
helping
.
If
the
debts
were
for
food
now
,
or
any
necessaries
;
but
for
mere
luxuries
,
mere
fine
clothes
;
it
is
his
tailor
who
has
arrested
him
,
you
know
.
I
would
rather
have
gone
in
rags
!
I
would
rather
see
us
all
in
rags
!
—
It
's
mean
,
selfish
,
cowardly
,
and
I
despise
him
for
it
.
Though
he
is
my
own
flesh
and
blood
,
I
despise
him
.
"
"
Hilary
!
"
"
No.
"
and
the
tears
burst
from
her
angry
eyes
,
"
I
do
n't
mean
that
I
despise
him
.
I
'm
sorry
for
him
:
there
is
good
in
him
,
poor
dear
lad
;
but
I
despise
his
weakness
;
I
feel
fierce
to
think
how
much
it
will
cost
us
all
,
and
especially
you
,
Johanna
.
Only
think
what
comforts
of
all
sorts
that
thirty
pounds
would
have
brought
to
you
!
"
"
God
will
provide
,
"
said
Johanna
,
earnestly
.
"
But
I
know
,
my
dear
,
this
is
sharper
to
you
than
to
me
.
Besides
,
I
have
been
more
used
to
it
.
"
She
closed
her
eyes
,
with
a
half
shudder
,
as
if
living
over
again
the
old
days
—
when
Henry
Leaf
's
wife
and
eldest
daughter
used
to
have
to
give
dinner
parties
upon
food
that
stuck
in
their
throats
,
as
if
every
morsel
had
been
stolen
;
which
in
truth
it
was
,
and
yet
they
were
helpless
,
innocent
thieves
;
when
they
and
the
children
had
to
wear
clothes
that
seemed
to
poison
them
like
the
shirt
of
Dejanira
;
when
they
durst
not
walk
along
special
streets
,
nor
pass
particular
shops
,
for
the
feeling
that
the
shop
people
must
be
staring
,
and
pointing
,
and
jibing
at
them
,
"
Pay
me
what
thou
owest
!
"
"
But
things
can
not
again
be
so
bad
as
those
days
,
Hilary
.
Ascott
is
young
;
he
may
mend
.
People
can
mend
,
my
child
;
and
he
had
such
a
different
bringing
up
from
what
his
father
had
,
and
his
grandfather
,
too
.
We
must
not
be
hopeless
yet
.
You
see
,
"
and
making
Hilary
kneel
down
before
her
,
she
took
her
by
both
hands
,
as
if
to
impart
something
of
her
own
quietness
to
this
poor
heart
,
struggling
as
young
,
honest
,
upright
hearts
do
struggle
with
something
which
their
whole
nature
revolts
against
,
and
loathes
,
and
scorns
—
"
you
see
,
the
boy
is
our
boy
;
our
own
flesh
and
blood
.
We
were
very
foolish
to
let
him
away
from
us
for
so
long
.
We
might
have
made
him
better
if
we
had
kept
him
at
Stowbury
.
But
he
is
young
;
that
is
my
hope
of
him
;
and
he
was
always
fond
of
his
aunts
,
and
is
still
,
I
think
.
"
Hilary
smiled
sadly
.
"
Deeds
,
not
words
I
do
n't
believe
in
words
.
"
"
Well
,
let
us
put
aside
believing
,
and
only
act
.
Let
us
give
him
another
chance
.
"
Hilary
shook
her
head
.
"
Another
,
and
another
,
and
another
—
it
will
be
always
the
same
.
I
know
it
will
.
I
ca
n't
tell
how
it
is
,
Johanna
;
but
whenever
I
look
at
you
,
I
feel
so
stern
and
hard
to
Ascott
.
It
seems
as
if
there
were
circumstances
when
pity
to
some
,
to
one
,
was
wicked
injustice
to
others
:
as
if
there
were
times
when
it
is
right
and
needful
to
lop
off
,
at
once
and
forever
,
a
rotten
branch
rather
than
let
the
whole
tree
go
to
rack
and
ruin
.
I
would
do
it
!
I
should
think
myself
justified
in
doing
it
.
"
"
But
not
just
yet
.
He
is
only
a
boy
—
our
own
boy
.
"
And
the
two
women
,
in
both
of
whom
the
maternal
passion
existed
strong
and
deep
,
yet
in
the
one
never
had
found
,
and
in
the
other
never
might
find
,
its
natural
channel
,
wept
together
over
this
lad
,
almost
as
mothers
weep
.
"
But
what
can
we
do
?
"
said
Hilary
at
last
.
"
Thirty
pounds
,
and
not
a
halfpenny
to
pay
it
with
;
must
we
borrow
?
"
"
Oh
no
—
no
,
"
was
the
answer
,
with
a
shrinking
gesture
;
"
no
borrowing
.
There
is
the
diamond
ring
.
"
This
was
a
sort
of
heir-loom
from
eldest
daughter
to
eldest
daughter
of
the
Leaf
family
which
had
been
kept
even
as
a
sort
of
superstition
,
through
all
temptations
of
poverty
.
—
The
last
time
Miss
Leaf
looked
at
it
she
had
remarked
,
jestingly
,
it
should
be
given
some
day
to
that
important
personage
talked
of
for
many
a
year
among
the
three
aunts
—
Mrs.
Ascott
Leaf
.
"
Who
must
do
without
it
now
,
"
said
Johanna
,
looking
regretfully
at
the
ring
;
"
that
is
,
if
he
ever
takes
to
himself
a
wife
,
poor
boy
.
"
Hilary
answered
,
beneath
her
breath
,
"
Unless
he
alters
,
I
earnestly
hope
he
never
may
.
"
And
there
came
over
her
involuntarily
a
wild
,
despairing
thought
,
Would
it
not
be
better
that
neither
Ascott
nor
herself
should
ever
be
married
,
that
the
family
might
die
out
,
and
trouble
the
world
no
more
?
Nevertheless
she
rose
up
to
do
what
she
knew
had
to
be
done
,
and
what
there
was
nobody
to
do
but
herself
.
"
Do
n't
mind
it
,
Johanna
;
for
indeed
I
do
not
.
I
shall
go
to
a
first
rate
,
respectable
jeweler
,
and
he
will
not
cheat
me
;
and
then
I
shall
find
my
way
to
the
sponging-house
—
is
n't
that
what
they
call
it
?
I
dare
say
many
a
poor
woman
has
been
there
before
me
.
I
am
not
the
first
,
and
shall
not
be
the
last
,
and
no
body
will
harm
me
.
I
think
I
look
honest
,
though
my
name
is
Leaf
.
"
She
laughed
—
a
bitter
laugh
;
but
Johanna
silenced
it
in
a
close
embrace
;
and
when
Hilary
rose
up
again
she
was
quite
her
natural
self
.
She
summoned
Elizabeth
,
and
began
giving
her
all
domestic
directions
,
just
as
usual
;
finally
,
bade
her
sister
good
by
in
a
tone
as
like
her
usual
tone
as
possible
,
and
left
her
settled
on
the
sofa
in
content
and
peace
.
Elizabeth
followed
to
the
door
.
Miss
Hilary
had
asked
her
for
the
card
on
which
Ascott
had
written
the
address
of
the
place
where
he
had
been
taken
to
;
and
though
the
girl
said
not
a
word
,
her
anxious
eyes
made
piteous
inquiry
.
Her
mistress
patted
her
on
the
shoulder
.
"
Never
mind
about
me
;
I
shall
come
to
no
harm
,
Elizabeth
.
"
"
It
's
a
bad
place
;
such
a
dreadful
place
,
Mrs.
Jones
says
.
"
"
Is
it
?
"
Elizabeth
guessed
part
,
not
the
whole
of
the
feelings
that
made
Hilary
hesitate
,
shrink
even
,
from
the
duty
before
her
,
turning
first
so
hot
,
and
then
so
pale
.
Only
as
a
duty
could
she
have
done
it
at
all
.
"
No
matter
,
I
must
go
.
Take
care
of
my
sister
.
"
She
ran
down
the
door
steps
,
and
walked
quickly
through
the
Crescent
.
It
was
a
clear
,
sunshiny
,
frosty
day
—
such
a
day
as
always
both
cheered
and
calmed
her
.
She
had
,
despite
all
her
cares
,
youth
,
health
,
energy
;
and
a
holy
and
constant
love
lay
like
a
sleeping
angel
in
her
heart
.
Must
I
tell
the
truth
,
and
own
that
before
she
had
gone
two
streets
'
length
Hilary
ceased
to
feel
so
very
,
very
miserable
?
Love
—
this
kind
of
love
of
which
I
speak
—
is
a
wonderful
thing
,
the
most
wonderful
thing
in
all
the
world
.
The
strength
it
gives
,
the
brightness
,
the
actual
happiness
,
even
in
hardest
times
,
is
often
quite
miraculous
.
When
Hilary
sat
waiting
in
the
jeweler
's
shop
,
she
watched
a
little
episode
of
high
life
—
two
wealthy
people
choosing
their
marriage
plate
;
the
bride
,
so
careless
and
haughty
;
the
bridegroom
,
so
unutterably
mean
to
look
at
,
stamped
with
that
innate
smallness
and
coarseness
of
soul
which
his
fine
clothes
only
made
more
apparent
.
And
she
thought
—
oh
,
how
fondly
she
thought
!
—
of
that
honest
,
manly
mein
;
of
that
true
,
untainted
heart
,
which
she
felt
sure
,
had
never
loved
any
woman
but
herself
;
of
the
warm
,
firm
hand
,
carving
its
way
thro
'
the
world
for
her
sake
,
and
waiting
patiently
till
it
could
openly
clasp
hers
,
and
give
her
every
thing
it
had
won
.
She
would
not
have
exchanged
him
.
Robert
Lyon
,
with
his
penniless
love
,
his
half-hopeless
fortunes
,
or
maybe
his
lot
of
never
ending
care
,
for
the
"
brawest
bridegroom
"
under
the
sun
.
Under
this
sun
—
the
common
,
everyday
winter
sun
of
Regent
and
Oxford
streets
—
she
walked
now
as
brightly
and
bravely
as
if
there
were
no
trouble
before
her
,
no
painful
meeting
with
Ascott
,
no
horrid
humiliation
from
which
every
womanly
feeling
in
her
nature
shrunk
with
acute
pain
.
"
Robert
,
my
Robert
!
"
she
whispered
in
her
heart
,
and
felt
him
so
near
to
her
that
she
was
at
rest
,
she
hardly
knew
why
.
Possibly
grand
,
or
clever
,
or
happy
people
who
condescend
to
read
this
story
may
despise
it
,
think
it
unideal
,
uninteresting
;
treating
of
small
things
and
common
people
—
"
poor
persons
,
"
in
short
.
I
can
not
help
it
.
I
write
for
the
poor
;
not
to
excite
the
compassion
of
the
rich
toward
them
,
but
to
show
them
their
own
dignity
and
the
bright
side
of
their
poverty
.
For
it
has
its
bright
side
;
and
its
very
darkest
,
when
no
sin
is
mixed
up
therewith
,
is
brighter
than
many
an
outwardly
prosperous
life
.
"
Better
is
a
dinner
of
herbs
,
where
love
is
,
than
a
stalled
ox
and
hatred
therewith
.
Better
is
a
dry
morsel
,
and
quietness
therewith
,
than
a
house
full
of
sacrifices
and
strife
.
"
With
these
two
sage
proverbs
—
which
all
acknowledge
and
scarcely
any
really
believe
,
or
surely
they
would
act
a
little
more
as
if
they
did
—
I
leave
Johanna
Leaf
sitting
silently
in
her
solitary
parlor
,
knitting
stockings
for
her
child
;
weaving
many
a
mingled
web
of
thought
withal
,
yet
never
letting
a
stitch
go
down
;
and
Hilary
Leaf
walking
cheerily
and
fearlessly
up
one
strange
street
and
down
another
to
find
out
the
"
bad
"
place
,
where
she
once
had
no
idea
it
would
ever
have
been
her
lot
to
go
.
—
One
thing
she
knew
,
and
gloried
in
the
knowledge
,
that
if
Robert
Lyon
had
known
she
was
going
,
or
known
half
the
cares
she
had
to
meet
,
he
would
have
recrossed
the
Indian
seas
—
have
risked
fortune
,
competence
,
hope
of
the
future
,
which
was
the
only
cheer
of
his
hard
present
—
in
order
to
save
her
from
them
all
.
The
minute
history
of
this
painful
day
I
do
not
mean
to
tell
.
Hilary
never
told
it
till
,
years
after
,
she
wept
it
out
upon
a
bosom
that
could
understand
the
whole
,
and
would
take
good
care
that
while
the
life
beat
in
his
she
never
should
go
through
the
like
again
.
Ascott
came
home
—
that
is
,
was
brought
home
—
very
humbled
,
contrite
,
and
grateful
.
There
was
no
one
to
meet
him
but
his
Aunt
Johanna
,
and
she
just
kissed
him
quietly
,
and
bade
him
come
over
to
the
fire
;
he
was
shivering
,
and
somewhat
pale
.
He
had
even
two
tears
in
his
handsome
eyes
,
the
first
Ascott
had
been
known
to
shed
since
he
was
a
boy
.
That
he
felt
a
good
deal
,
perhaps
as
much
as
was
in
his
nature
to
feel
,
there
could
be
no
doubt
.
So
his
two
aunts
were
glad
and
comforted
;
gave
him
his
tea
and
the
warmest
seat
at
the
hearth
;
said
not
a
harsh
word
to
him
,
but
talked
to
him
about
indifferent
things
.
—
Tea
being
over
,
Hilary
was
anxious
to
get
every
thing
painful
ended
before
Selina
came
home
—
Selina
,
who
,
they
felt
by
instinct
,
had
now
a
separate
interest
from
themselves
,
and
had
better
not
be
told
this
sad
story
if
possible
;
so
she
asked
her
nephew
"
if
he
remembered
what
they
had
to
do
this
evening
?
"
"
Had
to
do
?
Oh
,
Aunt
Hilary
,
I
'm
so
tired
!
ca
n't
you
let
me
be
quiet
?
Only
this
one
night
.
I
promise
to
bring
you
everything
on
Monday
.
"
"
Monday
will
be
too
late
.
I
shall
be
away
.
And
you
know
you
ca
n't
do
without
my
excellent
arithmetic
,
"
she
added
with
a
faint
smile
.
"
Now
,
Ascott
,
be
a
good
boy
—
fetch
down
all
those
bills
and
let
us
go
over
them
together
.
"
"
His
debts
came
to
more
than
the
thirty
pounds
then
?
"
said
his
Aunt
Johanna
,
when
he
was
gone
.
"
Yes
.
But
the
ring
sold
for
fifty
.
"
And
Hilary
drew
to
the
table
,
got
writing
materials
,
and
sat
waiting
,
with
a
dull
,
silent
patience
in
her
look
,
at
which
Johanna
sighed
and
said
no
more
.
The
aunt
and
nephew
spent
some
time
in
going
over
that
handful
of
papers
,
and
approximating
to
the
sum
total
,
in
that
kind
of
awful
arithmetic
when
figures
cease
to
be
mere
figures
,
but
grow
into
avenging
monsters
,
bearing
with
them
life
or
death
.
"
Is
that
all
!
You
are
quite
sure
it
is
all
?
"
said
Hilary
at
last
,
pointing
to
the
whole
amount
,
and
looking
steadily
into
Ascott
's
eyes
.
He
flushed
up
,
and
asked
what
she
meant
by
doubting
his
word
?
"
Not
that
,
but
you
might
easily
have
made
a
mistake
;
you
are
so
careless
about
money
matters
.
"
"
Ah
,
that
's
it
.
I
'm
just
careless
,
and
so
I
come
to
grief
.
But
I
never
mean
to
be
careless
any
more
.
I
'll
be
as
precise
as
you
.
I
'll
balance
my
books
every
week
—
every
day
if
you
like
—
exactly
as
you
do
at
that
horrid
shop
,
Aunt
Hilary
.
"
So
he
was
rattling
on
,
but
Hilary
stopped
him
by
pointing
to
the
figures
.
"
You
see
,
this
sum
is
more
than
we
expected
.
How
is
it
to
be
met
?
Think
for
yourself
.
You
are
a
man
now
.
"
"
I
know
that
,
"
said
Ascott
,
sullenly
;
"
but
what
's
the
use
of
it
?
—
money
only
makes
the
man
,
and
I
have
none
.
If
the
ancient
Peter
would
but
die
now
and
leave
me
his
heir
,
though
to
be
sure
Aunt
Selina
might
be
putting
her
oar
in
.
Perhaps
—
considering
I
'm
Aunt
Selina
's
nephew
—
if
I
were
to
walk
into
the
old
chap
now
he
might
be
induced
to
fork
out
!
Hurrah
!
that
's
a
splendid
idea
.
"
"
What
idea
?
"
"
I
'll
borrow
the
money
from
old
Ascott
.
"
"
That
means
,
because
he
has
already
given
,
you
would
have
him
keep
on
giving
—
and
you
would
take
and
take
and
take
—
Ascott
,
I
'm
ashamed
of
you
.
"
But
Ascott
only
burst
out
laughing
.
"
Nonsence
!
—
he
has
money
and
I
have
none
;
why
should
n't
he
give
it
me
?
"
"
Why
?
"
—
she
repeated
,
her
eyes
flashing
and
her
little
feminine
figure
seeming
to
grow
taller
as
she
spoke
—
"
I
'll
tell
you
,
since
you
do
n't
seem
yourself
to
understand
it
.
Because
a
young
man
,
with
health
and
strength
in
him
,
should
blush
to
eat
any
bread
but
what
he
himself
earns
.
Because
he
should
work
at
any
thing
and
every
thing
,
stint
himself
of
every
luxury
and
pleasure
,
rather
than
ask
or
borrow
,
or
,
except
under
rare
circumstances
,
rather
than
be
indebted
to
any
living
soul
for
a
single
half-penny
.
I
would
not
,
if
I
were
a
young
man
.
"
"
What
a
nice
young
man
you
would
make
,
Aunt
Hilary
!
"
There
was
something
in
the
lad
's
imperturbable
good
humor
at
once
irritating
and
disarming
.
Whatever
his
faults
,
they
were
more
negative
than
positive
;
there
was
no
malice
prepense
about
him
,
no
absolute
personal
wickedness
.
And
he
had
the
strange
charm
of
manner
and
speech
which
keeps
up
one
's
outer
surface
of
habitual
affection
toward
a
person
long
after
all
its
foundations
of
trust
and
respect
have
hopelessly
crumbled
away
.
"
Come
now
,
my
pretty
aunt
must
go
with
me
.
She
will
manage
the
old
ogre
much
better
than
I
.
And
he
must
be
managed
somehow
.
It
's
all
very
fine
talking
of
independence
,
but
is
n't
it
hard
that
a
poor
fellow
should
be
living
in
constant
dread
of
being
carried
off
to
that
horrid
,
uncleanly
,
beastly
den
—
bah
!
I
do
n't
like
thinking
of
it
—
and
all
for
the
want
of
twenty
pounds
?
You
must
go
to
him
,
Aunt
Hilary
.
"
She
saw
they
must
—
there
was
no
help
for
it
.
Even
Johanna
said
so
.
It
was
after
all
only
asking
for
Ascott
's
quarterly
allowance
three
days
in
advance
,
for
it
was
due
on
Tuesday
.
But
what
jarred
against
her
proud
,
honest
spirit
was
the
implication
that
such
a
request
gave
of
taking
as
a
right
that
which
had
been
so
long
bestowed
as
a
favor
.
Nothing
but
the
great
strait
they
were
in
could
ever
have
driven
her
to
consent
that
Mr.
Ascott
should
be
applied
to
at
all
;
but
since
it
must
be
done
,
she
felt
that
she
had
