Page:Francesca Carrara 3.pdf/282

Rh One good effect, however, was derived from the interruption; she now only be came impatient to get rid of a note which had caused so much trouble already, and might occasion more; and in five minutes it was safe in the keeping of a boy who waited for it, and who, the moment he received it, darted off with a rapidity which might have served as an example to Alice when sent on her next message. Like most good examples, it was not one by which she was likely to profit. The truth is, Alice felt her dignity compromised. Her lady evidently had a mystery, and she was not intrusted with it. This led to two resolutions: first, to discover; secondly, to reveal it.

Some one says, keep your secret yourself, for how can you expect others to do that which you cannot? Still, I am persuaded more secrets are revealed by being kept than by being told. You enlist a person's honour, and, still dearer, their vanity, on your side by confidence. We all desire to deserve the good opinion which we believe we have inspired; but distrust awakens all that is little and mean within us. Why should we be better than we are held to be? We are mortified by not being thought worthy of trust; and there is also a feeling of small triumph in circumventing those who doubt either our inclination or our