"
"Indeed! And pray, why not, may I ask? She is a most respectable
person--a person who knows her place. I am sure the deference with
which she treats me, the attention with which she listens to all my
suggestions, have given me the utmost confidence in the young woman;
all the more, because, I repeat, she knows her place. She is content to
be a governess; she never pretends to be a lady."
The insult was so pointed, so plain, that it could not be passed over.
Christian rose from her seat. "Miss Gascoigne, seeing that I am here at
the head of my husband's table, I must request you to be a little more
guarded in your conversation. I, too, have been a governess, but it
never occurred to me that I was otherwise than a lady."
There was a dead silence, during which poor Aunt Maria cast imploring
looks at Aunt Henrietta, who perhaps felt that she had gone too far, for
she muttered some vague apology about "different people being
different in their ways."
"Exactly so and what I meant to observe was, that my chief reason for
doubting Miss Bennett's fitness to instruct Titia is what you yourself
allow. If she is 'not a lady,' how can you expect her to make a lady of
our little girl?"
"Our little girl?"
"Yes, our" the choking tears came as far as Christian's throat, and then
were swallowed down again.
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