She is not
colder to me than she is to the other teachers; but they are less
dependent on her than I am. They have relations and acquaintances in
Bruxelles. You remember the letter she wrote me, when I was in
England? How kind and affectionate that was? is it not odd? In the
meantime, the complaints I make at present are a sort of relief which
I permit myself. In all other respects I am well satisfied with my
position, and you may say so to people who inquire after me (if any
one does). Write to me, dear, whenever you can. You do a good deed
when you send me a letter, for you comfort a very desolate heart."
One of the reasons for the silent estrangement between Madame Heger and
Miss Bronte, in the second year of her residence at Brussels, is to be
found in the fact, that the English Protestant's dislike of Romanism
increased with her knowledge of it, and its effects upon those who
professed it; and when occasion called for an expression of opinion from
Charlotte Bronte, she was uncompromising truth. Madame Heger, on the
opposite side, was not merely a Roman Catholic, she was _devote_. Not of
a warm or impulsive temperament, she was naturally governed by her
conscience, rather than by her affections; and her conscience was in the
hands of her religious guides.
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