"Yes, very likely Mrs. Grey may not choose his
acquaintance. He is not approved of by every body."
"I know that." said Phillis, meaningly.
The two women, the lady and the servant, exchanged looks. Both were
acute persons, and the judgment either passed on the other was keen
and accurate. Probably neither judged herself, or recognized the true
root of her judgment upon the third person, unfortunate Christian. "She
has interfered with my management, and stolen the hearts of my
children;" "she has annoyed me and resisted my authority?" would
never have been given by either nurse or aunt as a reason for either
their feelings or their actions; yet so it was.
Nevertheless, when in the hall of the Lodge they came suddenly face to
face with Mrs. Grey, entering, hat in hand, from the door of the private
garden, the only place where she ever walked alone now, they both
started as if they had been detected in something wrong. She looked so
quiet and gentle, grave and sweet, modest as a girl and dignified as a
young matron--so perfectly unconscious of all that was being said or
planned against her, that if these two malicious women had a
conscience--and they had, both of them--they must have felt it smite
them now.
"Miss Gascoigne, how kind of you to walk home with the children!
Papa and I would have come, but he was obliged to dine in Hall.
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