On reaching Cheltenham, the general took Clara to the house of his sister-in-law, a Scotch lady, who received her with the most motherly kindness.
“I very well know the sort of glamour which has been thrown around you, my dear,” she said, “so that I can heartily sympathise with you; and I praise God that it has been removed. You can now therefore look with confidence for grace and strength from Him who is the giver of all good, to walk forward in the enjoyment of that true happiness which God in His mercy affords to His creatures. There is abundance of work for our sex, which can be carried out in a straightforward, Protestant, English fashion.”
“I shall be thankful to find it,” said Clara.
“You will not have long to wait, my dear,” answered Mrs Caulfield; “but at present you require being nursed yourself: you must let me take you in hand.”
As soon as the general had deposited Clara with his sister-in-law, he set off and paid his promised visit to Mary Lennard. On reaching Mrs Barnett’s establishment, he was shown into a handsome drawing-room, where that lady soon presented herself, under the belief that he had come to place a daughter with her. She bowed gracefully as she glided into a seat, and smilingly enquired the object of his visit.
“I have come to see Miss Mary Lennard, daughter of my particular friend, the Reverend John Lennard,” answered he.
“She is too ill, I regret to say, to see visitors,” answered the schoolmistress. “Had her father come, I of course should not have objected.”
“I am acting in the place of her father,” said the general, “and I must insist on seeing the young lady, who has, I understand, been made ill by a system of fasting and penances which all right-minded people must consider objectionable.”
“Sir, you astonish me,” exclaimed Mrs Barnett. “I should suppose that every clergyman would wish his daughter to fast on Fridays and other days ordered by the Church; and with regard to penances, such have been imposed by the priest to whom she has duly gone to confession.”
“Why, I thought this was a Protestant school,” exclaimed the general, astonished.