TWO YOUNG LADIES ON MATRIMONY
‘I hope they had a pleasanter dinner downstairs than we have had here,’ said Nina, as, after wishing Miss O’Shea a good-night, the young girls slowly mounted the stairs.
‘Poor old godmother was too sad and too depressed to be cheerful company; but did she not talk well and sensibly on the condition of the country? was it not well said, when she showed the danger of all that legislation which, assuming to establish right, only engenders disunion and class jealousy?’
‘I never followed her; I was thinking of something else.’
‘She was worth listening to, then. She knows the people well, and she sees all the mischief of tampering with natures so imbued with distrust. The Irishman is a gambler, and English law-makers are always exciting him to play.’
‘It seems to me there is very little on the game.’
‘There is everything—home, family, subsistence, life itself—all that a man can care for.’
‘Never mind these tiresome themes; come into my room; or I’ll go to yours, for I’m sure you’ve a better fire; besides, I can walk away if you offend me: I mean offend beyond endurance, for you are sure to say something cutting.’
‘I hope you wrong me, Nina.’
‘Perhaps I do. Indeed, I half suspect I do; but the fact is, it is not your words that reproach me, it is your whole life of usefulness is my reproach, and the least syllable you utter comes charged with all the responsibility of one who has a duty and does it, to a mere good-for-nothing. There, is not that humility enough?’