“No, I shall be busy in copying these receipts for cake, but if you will have an eye to the children who are down stairs, I shall be obliged to you.”
Ariana took up her basket containing a pair of slippers, which she was working for Andrew Dormer, and went into the parlor, where she hoped to find Mrs. Grayson.
That lady was, however, not there, but soon came in, and setting down her work, commenced one of those easy, confidential chats, which make two people better acquainted than years of intercourse in general society.
“I am going to ask a question, which you will think very strange,” said Ariana, at length, “but it would make me so much happier if I was certain about it.”
“What is it, dear?” asked the kind lady, with a benevolent smile, which encouraged curiosity.
“Will you then tell me,” said Ariana, hesitatingly, “if Judge Grayson is always as kind and agreeable at home as he appears to us?”
The tears rose to Mrs. Grayson’s eyes as she answered, “He has never been otherwise. I could not with propriety have replied to your question if I had not testimony to bear to his never failing love and kindness.”
“Oh! how glad I am!” exclaimed Ariana, with a fervency that startled her companion. “All the men I know are so disagreeable in their own homes, and so neglectful of the comfort of their wives, that I thought the rest of the world were like them.”
“It is too true, my child,” said Mrs. Grayson, kindly, “that there are those who sacrifice their private peace to their public duties, or exhibit at home the vexation consequent upon lives of constant toil and anxiety. Even where this is the case, however, it is a woman’s duty to give her home all the cheerfulness in her power; and if her husband is not in private life what she could wish, the secret should be confined to her own bosom.”
Mrs. Grayson was one of the few persons who can give advice so discreetly as not to wound the feelings of the person whom they are trying to benefit. Her last remark made Ariana feel the impropriety of having allowed the faults of her brothers-in-law, who were generous, indeed, though their manners were often so disagreeable. Her confession in this respect was so frankly made, that it won upon Mrs. Grayson’s affection, and their conversation continued in a still more confidential tone.