Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/178

178 yet to know in Mrs. Hyde a Christian woman, one to whom the wants of her fellow-creatures were claims, and who judged and felt in their affairs as if they were her own. To her might justly be applied Wordsworth's beautiful description of the man of Christian sympathy.

Mrs. Hyde saw in Lucy a young creature who, if her story were true, and truth was stamped on her countenance, was in most forlorn circumstances. The simplicity of her manner and the directness and consistency of her statements were in her favour, and it seemed scarcely possible she could be guilty of the complicated iniquity in which a supposition of the falsehood of her story involved her. At any rate, it was in conformity with Mrs. Hyde's principles and experience to "hope all things of the young;" and, true to her theory, she sent to Mrs. Hartell's for Lucy's trunk. When that came she examined Mrs. Lovett's and Mrs. Lee's letters sufficiently to corroborate Lucy's statement, and then she permitted her to enter upon the duties of her new situation. A previous duty, however, she performed. "I cannot," she said to Mrs. Hyde, "rest easy a minute without writing to Mr. Hartell about the danger poor little Eugene is in. If you only knew what a sweet little fellow he is, Mrs. Hyde!"

"No child, Lucy, should be left in the hands of such a person as you describe that nurse. Write