“I never thought I did not forgive. I did not see that brooding over vexations was not pardoning them. I have told her so now; and, oh! if she could but have seen how true sorrows are borne here, she would be cured, like me, of making imaginary ones.”
“None could help being better for living with papa,” said Ethel.
Ethel made Miss Bracy happy by a kiss before she left her. It was a cheering belief that, whatever the future trials of her life might be, the gentle little lady would meet them with a healthier mind, more vigorous in overlooking troubles and without punctilious sensitiveness on the lookout for affronts. “Believing all things, bearing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things,” would be to her the true secret of serenity of spirits.
Ethel might not have been blameless or consistent in her dealings in this difficult intercourse, but her kind heart, upright intention, and force of character, had influence far beyond her own perception. Indeed, she knew not that she had personal influence at all, but went on in her own straightforward humility.
CHAPTER XXIV.
“Enough of foresight sad, too much
Of retrospect have I;
And well for me, that I, sometimes,
Can put those feelings by.
There speaks the man we knew of yore,
Well pleased, I hear them say;
Such was he, in his lighter moods,
Before our heads were gray.
Buoyant he was in spirit, quick
Of fancy, light of heart;
And care, and time, and change have left
Untouch’d his better part.”—SOUTHEY.
Etheldred May and Meta Rivers were together in the drawing-room. The timepiece pointed towards ten o’clock, but the tea-things were on the table, prepared for a meal, the lamp shone with a sort of consciousness, and Ethel moved restlessly about, sometimes settling her tea equipage, sometimes putting away a stray book, or resorting by turns to her book, or to work a red and gold scroll on coarse canvas, on the other end of which Meta was employed.
“Nervous, Ethel?” said Meta, looking up with a merry provoking smile, knowing how much the word would displease.
“That is for you,” retorted Ethel, preferring to carry the war into the enemy’s quarters. “What, don’t you know that prudent people say that your fate depends on her report?”