‘Very much amused, and treated like a queen; charmed with his mother, and great friends with Rose. They have brought Redmond home to lick him into shape, and I believe Rose is to come and be tamed.’
‘Always Ulick’s wish,’ said Albinia, as her eye fixed upon Sophy.
And her brother, with perhaps too obvious a connexion of ideas, said, ‘Is she quite strong?’
‘Very well,’ said Albinia. ‘I am glad we brought her. The sight of beauty has been like a new existence. I saw it on her brow, in calmness and rest, the first evening of the Bay of Naples. It has seemed to soothe and elevate her, though all in her own silent way; but watch her as she sits with her face to those mountains, hear her voice, and you will feel that the presence of grandeur and beauty is repose and happiness to her; and I think the remembrance will always be so, even in work-a-day Bayford.’
‘Yes, because remembrance of such glory connects with hope of future glory.’
‘And it is a rest from human frets and passions. She has taken to botany, too, and I am glad, for I think those studies that draw one off from men’s works and thoughts, do most good to the weary, self-occupied brain. And the children are a delight to her!’
‘Sophy is your greatest work.’
‘Not mine!’ cried Albinia. ‘The noblest by nature, the dearest, the most generous.’
‘Great qualities; but they would have been only wretched self-preying torments, but for the softening of your affection,’ said Maurice.
‘Dear, dear friend and sister and child in one,’ cried Albinia. And then meeting her brother’s eyes, she said, ‘Yes, you know to the full how noble she is, and how—’