'Fear not on that rugged high-way
Life may want its lawful zest,
Sunny glens are on the mountain,
Where the weary heart may rest.'
Charles Gavan Duffy.
There was much relief and comfort in that visit of Mr. Audley's. For one thing, Geraldine was able to pour out all her troubles, as she had been used to do ever since her father had left her in his charge—her repentance for the stirrings of her naturally fretful, plaintive temper, for her fits of impatience and her hard judgments, and, what surprised him chiefly, for jealousy.
'Yes,' she repeated, at his word of surprise, 'I am jealous!'
'Indeed!'
'I never knew it till the choral festival. I used to be very fond of her, but—I'm sure it is jealousy; I don't like to see her more eagerly attended to than myself. Not that there is anything to complain of. He never neglected me in his life.'
Mr. Audley smiled. 'People would tell you it is the natural lot of sisters.'
Then she saw that he knew all about it; for, in fact, Felix had, rather to the general surprise, observed that the Miss Pearsons would like to meet Mr. Audley, and the trio had spent a musical evening with the Underwood party.
'Oh,' she cried, 'is it all my own horridness? Or is it really—'
'My own horridness or my own discernment?' said he, taking the words out of her mouth. 'My dear, such an affair as this would be generally the family jest.'