Though the duties of the day might be tedious
and monotonous, there were always two or three happy hours to look
forward to in the evening, when she and Miss W--- sat together--sometimes
late into the night--and had quiet pleasant conversations, or pauses of
silence as agreeable, because each felt that as soon as a thought or
remark occurred which they wished to express, there was an intelligent
companion ready to sympathise, and yet they were not compelled to "make
talk."
Miss W--- was always anxious to afford Miss Bronte every opportunity of
recreation in her power; but the difficulty often was to persuade her to
avail herself of the invitations which came, urging her to spend Saturday
and Sunday with "E." and "Mary," in their respective homes, that lay
within the distance of a walk. She was too apt to consider, that
allowing herself a holiday was a dereliction of duty, and to refuse
herself the necessary change, from something of an over-ascetic spirit,
betokening a loss of healthy balance in either body or mind. Indeed, it
is clear that such was the case, from a passage, referring to this time,
in the letter of "Mary" from which I have before given extracts.
"Three years after--" (the period when they were at school together)--"I
heard that she had gone as teacher to Miss W---'s.
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