Delicate as was the manner in which my mother had set my duty before me, she had made it quite clear to my mind; but love and duty were at war with each other. All my visions of home-happiness were darkened now by the shadow of uncle Bryan. Whichever way I turned his image seemed to stand, barring my way to the realisation of my dearest hopes.
[CHAPTER XXIX.]
PREPARATIONS FOR AN IMPORTANT EVENT.
The coldness between uncle Bryan and Jessie did not diminish with time. As a matter of necessity they were compelled to speak to each other occasionally, but they did so with coldness and reluctance, and a distinct avoidance of the subject which had broken the bond between them. I say that they were compelled to speak to each other as a matter of necessity, but I may be mistaken; they may have spoken not out of consideration for themselves, but for my mother. Thinking over the matter since that time, I have understood how those two, if they had been alone, might have lived in the same house for years, and might have performed their separate duties conscientiously, without a word passing between them. For the sake of peace Jessie would have yielded, but uncle Bryan would have remained implacable. Results proved this. In vain did my mother strive to bring them together in a more amiable spirit; in vain did she speak separately to each of the other's good qualities, magnifying their merits, ignoring their faults. Her labour upon uncle Bryan was entirely lost; but it was different with Jessie, not because she thought she was wrong, nor for uncle Bryan's sake, but out of her love for my mother.
'You are a child, my dear,' said my mother to her, 'and he is an old man. If for that reason alone, you should yield.'
'It would be useless,' was Jessie's rejoinder; 'I have known him for a much shorter time than you, but I know his nature better than you do. I judge of it by my own.'
'You do both him and yourself injustice, my dear,' pleaded the peacemaker; 'if he were all wrong and you were all right, it would be your duty to give in.'
'Love and duty do not always go together,' said Jessie obstinately.
'But we must make sacrifices, my child; what a miserable thing this life would be if some of us did not yield!'
'If I thought,' said Jessie, softening, 'that I should not be insulted I would do as you wish willingly, most willingly--not for my sake, but for yours.'