Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/759

1868.] and tenderly, he fell under their ban. He gave me some letters to examine and file—or burn, as I thought fit—ten years ago. Among them I found one from Mrs. Baxter—one from another cousin of Ginevra Lanneau. Both reproached him—Mrs. Baxter gently, the other bitterly—for separating his young wife from her friends, and 'immuring her in a savage solitude, where, cut off from all congenial associations, a spirit so refined as hers could not but pine itself to death.' I do not quote from Mrs. Baxter. If she had upbraided the best of men and most tender of husbands in these terms, Jessie should never have gone to her, unless under my protest."

"She will be safe and happy in Mrs. Baxter's care," said Orrin. "Her goodness of heart is undeniable—her impulses are amiable. She is a vain, but never an unkind or censorious woman. She always reminds me of the pretty bas bleu immortalized by the 'Spectator'—or is it 'Tattler?' When she would look languishing, there is a witty thing to be said at the same time that spoils all, 'Thus the unhappy Merab,' says the essayist, 'although both a wit and a beauty, has the credit of being neither.' Our modern Merab has excellent traits, nevertheless, and is incapable of using the language you have quoted. No one but a vulgar idiot could apply it to Mr. Kirke. The writer had, doubtless, never seen him. You were very young, at the time of your step-mother's death, to be your father's assistant and co-adviser. I am surprised at the accuracy of your recollections."

"I was fifteen. The elder daughter of a household early learns to bear family cares; is more mature at the same age than are those who come after. I remember my own mother, who died some eleven years earlier. I am thirty this month."

She picked up her sewing without a flutter or blush, and Orrin, not daring to offer her the flimsy compliment of incredulity he would have paid another woman who had volunteered a confession disparaging her personal charms, was still casting about in his mind for words that should praise, yet not offend, when Jessie returned.