Christian's Mistake

hours slip f

ye sad

rt with your li

it far

ised her cal

tears fell

not hours by

by duti

ie in the gre

ould upon

t "She did

e did her

the Lodge door-that is, a face not exactly strange; she seemed to have seen it before, but could not recollect how or where. Then she recalled it as that o

or afraid of any other occupation, which, indeed, is only too difficult to be found, whereby half-educated or not particularly clever young women may earn their bread. They therefore take to teaching as "genteel," and as being rather an elevation than not from the class in which they were born

of a common servant, nor the tastes and feelings of a lady, they do harm wherever they go; they neither win respect nor deserve it; and the best thing that could befall them would be to b

ood-looking and showy girl, she had not been too favorably impressed with Miss Bennett. But when she saw her coming out of the Lodge door, rather shabbier than beforetime, the March wind whistling through her thin, tawdry shawl, and making her pretty face look pinched and blue, Mrs. Grey, contrasting the comf

e asked of Phillis, whom she met brin

lis, scornfully, "she

gover

is week past!" and Phillis gleamed all over with malicious satisfaction that her

whom she would desire to see Letitia's governess, and a vague wonder as to how much Dr. Grey knew about the matter. Of course, engrossed as she was with the charg

, she caught the warm delight of Arthur's eyes, turning to her as eag

ed-checked woman-Titia says she isn't a lady, and I must not call her so-have been strum-strumming on your p

d to try and modi

practice here, Arthu

s gove

and I heard them plan to meet in Walnut-tree Court at five o'clock every evening, and go for a walk

thing that had gone on-or would have gone o

Arthur? If so, I must r

passion and beat her-poor Titia! I'm very sorry I t

about it just yet, and certainly not to Phillis. Lie here till

g as prim as possible over a book, looki

s she not, Titia? You are not going ou

ia, with her h

d, of telling a lie, was next to suggesting that lies should be told. She alw

k you have? 'Arabian Nights?' Then sit and read it

hard work loving Titia, who was so cold and prim, and u

r the first opportunity. He was dining in hall today, and afterward they were to go to the long-delaye

d incessantly, so that, even had she wished, Mrs. Grey could not have got in a single word of inquiry concer

ous silence upon every thing, and partly because her own strong nature prevented the necessity of letting her mind and feelings bubble over on all occasions and to every body, as is the manner of weaker but yet very amiable women. But, on the other hand, though she could keep a secret sacredly, rigidly-so ri

e said to Miss Gascoigne outright, witho

hy did you not tell me that you and Aunt

eople so much as a piece of direct simp

thur. Indeed, I must say," recovering herself from the defensive into the offensive position, "that t

ll me about Miss Bennett. When did sh

d a sentence her husband had once quoted-and, though a clergyman, he did not often quote the Bible, he only lived it: "As much as in you lieth, live pea

merely the adjective of that very determined substantive, A

Am I not capable of the management of my own sister's children, who have been under my car

verything in life! But, knowing it was so, the secret truth was enough to sustain her under any heap of falsehoods-opposing fals

the latter would be very useless. All I wish to say is, that I should like to have been consulted before any th

h which she treats me, the attention with which she listens to all my suggestions, have given me the utmost confidence in the you

ed, so plain, that it c

usband's table, I must request you to be a little more guarded in your conversation. I,

at Aunt Henrietta, who perhaps felt that she had gone too far, for she mutte

ng Miss Bennett's fitness to instruct Titia is what you yourself allow. If s

ittle

ittle girl, if you will; for she is mine-my husband's daughter and I wish to see her grow up every thing

ters, she fancied she saw creeping from pillar to pillar a child's figure; could it possibly be Titia's? Yes, it certainl

uld see into Walnut-tree Court. There, walking round and round, in the solitude which at this hour was customary in most colleges, she distinguished, dim as the light was, three figures-a man, a wom

or little Titia, besides disgracing, in the last manner in which any generous woman would wish to disgrace another woman, the poor friendless g

on her, poor girl!" thought Christian, with a faint sigh. "Wha

he front door, but at the glass door, which led to the garden behind; to which garden there was only one other entrance, a little door leading into Walnut-tree Court, and of this do

e been, without Phillis or any body, and

o-to fetch a c

is the

opped

What did you wa

don't

ight have been partly true; the child hung her head a

have been telling me the truth. Don't be afraid; if you have I will not punish you. I will not be hard upon you in any case, if you will only speak the truth.

if I stirred an inch from the nursery, while she went down to have tea with cook and Bark

iss Bennett, the

head and blushing with that painful precocity

was hi

em, without telling Phillis or any body, she would let me off all the hardest of my French lessons. And so-and so-Oh, hide me, there's papa at the hall doo

rollable that there was nothing

out her father. "Christ

little girl

o avoid it, which she did not. She felt it was a case in which concealment

have been more to blame than she. Come with me-will you co

which she passed over, and yet it made her glad-that Dr. Grey, like herself, ha

ullenly; "I had with her the best of recommendations, and I do not believe one word of all this story-th

Grey. "You have my wife's

he most arrant litt

back. Perhaps he knew,

mnation was not altoge

h unutterable pain tha

strongly, al

ve a child and trust it, and if it does wrong, punish it neither cruelly nor unfairly, and it will n

things in her narrow, worldly way, was silenced for the time. Then she began again, pouring out a torrent of explanatio

if untrue, and I accused her of it, I should find myself in a very unpleasant position. So, Mrs. Grey, since you have interfered in this matter, you must carry it out on your own responsibility. If you have taken a grudge against Mi

ng behind her. Aunt Maria followed with one pathetic glance

ry look, which Christian had of late learned to notice, indicating that he was no

mestic troubles among yourselves. We men have so many

primary cause of this, the first complaint she had ever heard him make

ible to keep it from me. It all springs from Aunt Henrietta. I wish she-But she is Aunt H

l not beaten down. It roused in her something very like fierceness-these gentle creatures can be fierce sometimes-to see a good man like Dr.

he added, smiling, "a sin against one's self does not include a sin against another. The next t

I had rather die than bring

etimes;" and he passed his hand over his forehead. "I am not so young as you, my dear; and, though my life has looked smooth enough outside; there has been a

n a strange, soft shyness, "I wish you would tell me what those vexatious thing

is other people's business, which I am afraid I have no right to tell even to you. It is only that a person

pecially as I do not believe that in the wide world you could have an

what i

the only thing is for me to speak to her myself, q

en dism

ear

aid Dr. Grey, with an a

I think of something far deeper-a girl's first notions about those sort of things. It is cruel to meddle with them before their time-to take the bloom off the peach and the scent off the rose; to put worldliness instead of innocence, and conceite

as saying or to what it referred, till she was start

ke all other women-because you bring hack to me the dreams of my youth. And here," suddenly rising, as if he feared he had said too much,