Almost crying with vexation, she walked home, and sat down to write
to Alethea, but, alas! she did not know where to direct a letter.
Bitterly did she repent of the burst of ill-temper which had stained
her last meeting with her friend, and she was scarcely comforted even
by the long and affectionate letter which she received a week after
their departure. Kindness from her was now forgiveness; never did
she so strongly feel Florence's inferiority; and she wondered at
herself for having sought her society so much as to neglect her
patient and superior friend. She became careless and indifferent to
Florence, and yet she went on in her former course, following Emily,
and fancying that nothing at Beechcroft could interest her in the
absence of her dear Alethea Weston.
CHAPTER XVII: LITTLE AGNES
'O guide us when our faithless hearts
From Thee would start aloof,
Where patience her sweet skill imparts,
Beneath some cottage roof.'
Palm Sunday brought Lily many regrets. It was the day of the school
prize giving, and she reflected with shame, how much less she knew
about the children than last year, and how little they owed to her;
she feared to think of the approach of Easter Day, a dread which she
had never felt before, and which she knew to be a very bad sign; but
her regret was not repentance--she talked, and laughed, and tried to
feel at ease.
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