I will cause her to be trained in useful
Works in my Household, expecting her, in Return, to assist in the
Care and Instruction of my young Children; and if she please me and
prove herself worthy and attentive, I will bestow her Marriage upon
some suitable Person. This is the more proper and convenient for
you, because your Age and Health are such that I may not long be
able to retain you in the Charge of my Estate--in which indeed you
are continued only out of Consideration of an extremely distant
Relationship, although a younger and more active Man, bred to the
Profession, would serve me far more profitably."
When Betty came into the room a few minutes later to pull off her
father's boots she found him sitting like one transfixed. He held
out the letter, saying, "Read that, child."
Betty stood by the window and read, only giving one start, and
muttering between her teeth, "Insolent woman!" but not speaking the
words aloud, for she knew her father would treat them as treason. He
always had a certain tender deference for his cousin Urania, mixed
with something akin to compunction, as if his loyalty to his betrothed
had been disloyalty to his family. Thus, he exceeded the rest of his
sex in blindness to the defects that had been so evident to his wife
and daughter; and whatever provocation might make him say of my Lady
himself, he never permitted a word against her from any one else.
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