At the same time," she added, with one of her abrupt
transitions of language, "I had my eye on you, and I had my eye on her,
when you were talking in the next room; and I don't mean to let you make
a fool of the girl. She is not in your line of life, and the sooner you
know it the better. You make me laugh when you ask if she is related to
gentlefolks. She is the orphan daughter of a chemist in the country. Her
relations haven't a penny to bless themselves with, except an old aunt,
who lives in a village on two or three hundred a year. I heard of the
girl by accident. When she lost her father and mother, her aunt offered
to take her. Isabel said, 'No, thank you; I will not be a burden on
a relation who has only enough for herself. A girl can earn an honest
living if she tries; and I mean to try'--that's what she said. I admired
her independence," her Ladyship proceeded, ascending again to the higher
regions of thought and expression. "My niece's marriage, just at that
time, had left me alone in this great house. I proposed to Isabel to
come to me as companion and reader for a few weeks, and to decide for
herself whether she liked the life or not. We have never been separated
since that time. I could hardly be fonder of her if she were my own
daughter; and she returns my affection with all her heart. She has
excellent qualities--prudent, cheerful, sweet-tempered; with good sense
enough to understand what her place is in the world, as distinguished
from her place in my regard.
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