On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    BBTRIBUTION. 249

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

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

    her hand in farewell and held it while he spoke earnestly for a few momentsI felt a triumphant impression that , meddle as he might ,

    Step I hen looked was , up too at late Step to hen separate ' s face them : oh . how it had altered ! I don't of that

    think I ever saw him afterwards without the shadow he expression set his s risin oul to g hetween me his and own him will . and I felt that that he at would that moment never

    swerve from it . compass Oh , Stephen , if only , a warning- angel had risen would before g you ive fame then , and and success told you and that wealth a , day and would life itself come , to j when oin those you

    two hands again . Well , I told you Stephen was very clever ; I always knew it ,

    but I never guessed in how many ways , or how he could devote his great talents to carry on a systemof small but sure contrivances .

    It was cleverly done , but how , I despised him that he could do it . Mildred was the most artless person I ever knew ; clear , honest ,

    and upright , she had no more power to baffle Stephen , than a poor hare has to outwit the dog * whose fangs are in her throat . He did

    not disdain to bend his whole mind to the work of detaching Charles from Mildred . He not only contrived schemes and

    excursions which kept his brother away from the vicarage , but in a thousand ways he managed that Mildred should always appear to

    disadvantage . He talked to her with a certain appearance of kindness ; but it was always on subjects where her country breeding

    and her limited education made her incompetent to speak . He took up Charles ' s theories , Charles ' s favorite authors , Charles's tastes

    and ideas for the moment , clothed them with his own brilliant power of expression and description , and then drew out Mildred to speak

    or to comment on what he said ; he would not leave her to her own simple modest silencebut wouldas it were , draw out and display

    before us all the j ) overt , y of her imag , ination and the slowness of her perceptions . It was a cruel thing to do : and I almost hated

    Stephen as I saw poor Mildred thus held up before Charles , while Stephen ' s quiet smile every now and then pointed her words , as if

    he had said , " This is the wife you would choose ! This is the companion you would seek ! "

    I hardly know how he did it , but I think he contrived to perplex Mildred and prevent her feeling at her ease , till literally her manner

    seemed awkward , her meaning confused , and she even looked her worst when Stephen was by . Charles would read out some of his

    favorite poems ; and then Stephen would turn to Mildred , and with an affectation of deference extract her opinion . Poor child ! she

    had no opinion about poetry ; but when Stephen was not there , Charles was satisfied with her silent admiration . And if it was admiration

    of the reader and but a very vague sentiment of wondering pleasure at what he readhe was content . But now she was entangled in

    Stephen ' s suggested , criticisms , forced to blunder , forced to seem ten times more stupid than she was . . And what could I do ? I could

    TOL V . S

    Bbtribution. 249

    BBTRIBUTION . 249

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1860, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061860/page/33/