Page:Gaskell - North and South, vol. I, 1855.djvu/157

 wife were friendless in a strange place, like the Hales."

"Oh! you need not speak so hastily. I am going to-morrow. I only wanted you exactly to understand about it."

"If you are going to-morrow, I shall order horses."

"Nonsense, John. One would think you were made of money."

"Not quite, yet. But about the horses I'm determined. The last time you were out in a cab, you came home with a headache from the jolting."

"I never complained of it, I'm sure."

"No! My mother is not given to complaints," said he, a little proudly. "But so much the more I have to watch over you. Now, as for Fanny there, a little hardship would do her good."

"She is not made of the same stuff as you are, John. She could not bear it."

Mrs. Thornton was silent after this; for her last words bore relation to a subject which mortified her. She had an unconscious contempt for a weak character; and Fanny was weak in the very points in which her mother and brother were strong. Mrs. Thornton was not a woman much given to reasoning; her quick judgment and firm resolution served her in good stead of any long arguments and discussions with herself; she felt instinctively that nothing could strengthen Fanny to endure hardships patiently, or face difficulties bravely; and though she winced as she made this acknowledgment to herself about her daughter, it only gave her a kind of pitying tenderness of manner towards her; much