Past and Present.
“’Tis time my past should set my future free
For life’s renewed endeavour.”
Rosa Mattei was sitting by herself in her aunt’s drawing-room. That afternoon Violante was expected to arrive from Oxley, and the next day they would meet Signor Mattei at the lodging close by, which was to be their home for the present. It would not be nearly so pleasant for Rosa as the ease and companionship of her present quarters; but she had learnt to accommodate herself to circumstances, and did not fret over the prospect of dull evenings. Besides, it would not be for very long. Rosa’s fine, considerate face rounded into a look of satisfaction. She had a great deal to tell Violante and her father. How would they take her news?
“Well, Rosa, sitting and repenting?” said her cousin Beatrice, coming into the room.
“No, Trixy, I’m not going to repent,” said Rosa. “I’m very well satisfied with my arrangements.”
“I think you are a wise girl, and a lucky girl,” said Miss Grey; “but I should like to know how you tamed your wild flights down to this result.”
“Well, Beatrice, I never in all my life saw the use of fretting over what can’t be helped. It seems to me that the present is just as good a time as the past, and deserves at least as much from one. Things aren’t any the better really because they happened ever so long ago.”
“Yes. How long have you been so philosophical?”
Rosa blushed, but held her ground.
“When a thing is impossible it may be the best thing in itself, but something else may be far better than the shadow of it.”