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    24 6 BE TRIE UTIONV

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    ^ "I Have Done A Very Good Morning's Wor...

    nearer and nearer , of the home he was earning for the future . It was no wonder to me that he let Margaret remain unconscious and

    unwooed . He was the last man in the world to distrust his own power , and I think her present fearless childish ways were so

    charming" to him that he would have been loth to sober or change them by an acknowledged loveor to fetter her free careless spirit

    , by any plan for the future . Well , I am rather forestalling mattersfor all this only grew

    , clear to me , day by day , during Stephen ' s first short visit , and afterwards when he was home in the winter for a longer stay ; and I

    spoke of it to no one , whereas Charles and his future were from the first day of my arrival a matter of discussion , and very , very soon

    of painful anxiety . After Stephen left us again for Dublin , I saw very little of Charles ; he was almost always at the vicarage with

    his and Stephen ' s old tutor—the curate—and the curate ' s daughter , Mildred O'Connor . Ah , Mary , you look disappointed ! NoI am

    , not going to be the heroine of my story , and I can assure you neither of my cousins was ever more than kind and friendly with

    me . I confess I was surprised that Charles should have chosen a person so utterly unlikely to sympathise with his imaginative

    character , but so it was . And without beauty , wealth , or position , it would certainly be considered a very poor marriage for Mr . Mahon ,

    of Mahon Court . Something of this I expressed to his mother . She only answered ,

    " My dear Susan , I know it all . I know what people will say ; but I see Charles has set his heart on it . She is not worthy of him I

    know—who would be ? but , Susan , there was as much difference between his father and me ; I was not worthy of him , and yet it

    would have been a cruel hand that had divided us . And we were very heup " -py . I don't think I reverenced him the less for not being

    clever myself , and he never had a regret , for he told me so at the last . No , Susan , I cannot interfere . I have not the heart to do it , and

    Mildred is a good religious girl , and I think she may lead him to exert himself more , and think more seriously of his duties ; for you

    know we cannot always leave everything to Stephen , while he pores over his books and studies . "

    Well , I do think good people are wiser than clever people . I believe Mrs . Mahon had a true instinct of what was rightand even

    through her extreme partiality for Charles , felt , if she did , not see or know , his faults .

    You want everybody described , Mary , so I suppose I must tell you about poor Mildred . _" Poor Mildred" everybody called her ;

    , and I never could make out why . She was strong , happy , good ; and yet everybody said " Poor Mildred . " I think it was because she

    was so very unselfish , for I have heard several people called so , when I believe that was the only reason . Whenever anybody was

    going to ask her to do something which she only was good-natured

    enough to undertake , or was relating some instance in which she

    24 6 Be Trie Utionv

    24 6 BE TRIE UTIONV

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1860, page 246, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061860/page/30/