His scent for possible
mischief was tolerably keen; so was Christina's, and it is likely that
if either of them detected in him or herself the first faint
symptoms of a want of faith they were nipped no less peremptorily in
the bud, than signs of self-will in Ernest were- and I should
imagine more successfully. Yet Theobald considered himself, and was
generally considered to be, and indeed perhaps was, an exceptionally
truthful person; indeed he was generally looked upon as an
embodiment of all those virtues which make the poor respectable and
the rich respected. In the course of time he and his wife became
persuaded, even to unconsciousness, that no one could even dwell under
their roof without deep cause for thankfulness. Their children,
their servants, their parishioners must be fortunate ipso facto that
they were theirs. There was no road to happiness here or hereafter,
but the road that they had themselves travelled, no good people who
did not think as they did upon every subject, and no reasonable person
who had wants the gratification of which would be inconvenient to
them- Theobald and Christina.
This was how it came to pass that their children were white and
puny; they were suffering from home-sickness.
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