It was almost impossible that these two minds, brought together, should not suffer friction, each exciting the other.
Sybella had been brought up from infancy on a rigid and limited selection of doctrines, carefully expressed; and it had never so much as occurred to her that further truths might exist beyond the boundary of the said selection. Her ideas on religious subjects were petrified into a permanent shape; that shape which had been handed to her ready-made in childhood; and whatever did not fit into the said shape, like a pudding into a bowl, was at once rejected. The vigorous though narrow mind of the older lady had entirely formulated the niece's belief. What Sybella had received in early youth she had as a matter of course swallowed whole unhesitatingly; and she continued to hold the same unquestioningly.
Of reasons for accepting this or rejecting that, she cared little and knew less. Discussions terrified her, historical facts were "dangerous," and from "evidences," she fled in alarm. She believed what she believed because she believed it; and because she believed it anybody who did not believe it was in error.
The niece was again in these matters a contrast to her aunt, unable to look upon things from Sybella's standpoint. She had early worked her way to a disdain of mere party oppositions on religious questions; and her young wide awake mind, eager with the spirit of the age to dive below the surface, and to know the why and wherefore of things, was perpetually fretted by Miss Devereux's illogical fears and unreasoning positiveness.
Troubles were fast springing up between them. The Devereux household always went to St. John's Church, Dutton—not to Dulveriford Church—always had done so, and as a matter of course, always would. The Devereux household was traditionally extremely "Low" in its views; and the successive Dulveriford clergy had long been more or less "High"; therefore like oil and water, they flowed apart, failing to mingle. Moreover, Mr. Trevelyan's predecessor had been personally obnoxious to Mrs. Willoughby; and Mr. Trevelyan, stepping into his place, had small chance of pleasing her. To be obnoxious to Mrs. Willoughby was to be obnoxious to the family. If easy-going old Sir John spoke a pleasant word now and then to his Rector, he did it sub rosa, concealing the delinquency from his sister. Sybella, indoctrinated from infancy with her aunt's notions, counted no condemnation too strong for the doings of "that man." Had not "dear aunt" always "strongly disapproved" of him?
But Evelyn counted St. John's architecturally ugly, and she found Mr. Kennedy prosy. His mild "comforting" sermons, which delighted the hearts of the middle-aged ladies and elderly gentlemen of the congregation, had only a soporific effect upon Evelyn. Her cultivated musical taste, repelled by the tuneless shouting of St. John's, was attracted by the well-trained choir of Dulveriford.
The next step was a warm liking on her part for Mr. Trevelyan, and a girlish readiness to submit herself to his teaching. How much of this preference sprang from a spirit of opposition, it would be hard to say. No doubt it was real of its kind.
Miss Devereux could not prevent the personal acquaintance. The two families had lived too long in close neighbourhood to be strangers; and, so far as his connections went, Mr. Trevelyan might be counted unexceptionable. Mrs. Willoughby had, however, always strenuously resisted the growth of acquaintanceship into friendship; and Sybella set herself to do the same. Thereby, at once, she enhanced the value of the friendship to Evelyn.
There were bones of contention enough between them, without this in addition. Whatever the one thought, the other did not think, on every conceivable subject, from questions of Church and State, down to the quilling of a frill.
Sybella's incessant quoting of Mrs. Willoughby provoked Evelyn. She did not see what it had to do with her occupations, or why she needed to follow certain rules, merely because Sybella had followed them at her age.