Hawkesworth's, so I am no fair judge,' said Alethea.
'I really have done justice to Eleanor's sterling goodness,' said
Lily. 'Now what should you think?'
'I can hardly imagine greater proofs of affection than Mrs.
Hawkesworth has given you,' said Miss Weston, smiling.
'It was because it was her duty,' said Lilias. 'You have only heard
the facts, but you cannot judge of her ways and looks. Now only
think, when Frank came home, after seven years of perils by field and
flood--there she rose up to receive him as if he had been Mr. Nobody
making a morning call. And all the time before they were married, I
do believe she thought more of showing Emily how much tea we were to
use in a week than anything else.'
'Perhaps some people might have admired her self-command,' said
Alethea.
'Self-command, the refuge of the insensible? And now, I told you
about dear Harry the other day. He was Eleanor's especial brother,
yet his death never seemed to make any difference to her. She
scarcely cried: she heard our lessons as usual, talked in her quiet
voice--showed no tokens of feeling.'
'Was her health as good as before?' asked Miss Weston.
'She was not ill,' said Lily; 'if she had, I should have been
satisfied.
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