'
'It is a very abominable shame,' said Jane, 'and so I shall tell
Emily.'
'No, do not, Jenny, I beg. I know she thinks so herself, and grieves
too much over it. No wonder she is vexed. All my faults have come
upon her. You had better go down, Jane; Mrs. Burnet is always vexed
if she does not see a good many of us, and I am sure I cannot go.
Besides, Emily dislikes having that girl to entertain.'
'Lily, you are so very gentle and forgiving, that I wonder how any
one can say what grieves you,' said Jane, for once struck with
admiration.
She went, and Lily remained, weeping over the injustice which she had
forgiven, and feeling as if, all the time, it was fair that the rule
of 'love' should, as it were, recoil upon her. Her tears flowed
fast, as she went over the long line of faults and follies which lay
heavy on her conscience. And Emily against her! That sister who,
from her infancy, had soothed her in every trouble, of whose sympathy
she had always felt sure, whose gentleness had been her admiration in
her days of sharp answers and violent temper, who had seemed her own
beyond all the others; this wound from her gave Lily a bitter feeling
of desertion and loneliness.
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