Her failings are the result of the peculiar circumstances in which
she has been placed. With such a kind monitress as Miss Whitmore to
counsel her, I feel assured that she might soon be persuaded to forsake
her masculine employments, and feel a relish for more feminine
pursuits."
He spoke with much earnestness, until perceiving that Juliet regarded
him with a peculiarly searching glance, he colored, hesitated, became
embarrassed, and, finally, stopped speaking.
"When I first saw Mary Mathews, some months ago," said Juliet, "she was
very pretty, and as blithe as a bird; I used to envy the exuberance of
her animal spirits, whenever I passed her little garden, and heard her
singing. For the last few weeks, a melancholy change has taken place in
the poor girl's appearance, which gives me pain to witness. Her cheek
has lost its bloom; her step its elasticity; her dress is neglected; and
the garden in which she worked and sang so merrily, and in which she
took so much delight, is overrun with weeds. Her whole appearance
indicates the most poignant grief. When I questioned her to-day upon the
subject, she answered me with a burst of tears--tears, which seem so
unnatural for one of her disposition to shed. Perhaps, Mr. Anthony," she
continued, with an air of increasing interest, "you can tell me
something of the history of this young girl--as she is one of your
uncle's tenants--which may lead me to discover the cause of her grief?"
Before Anthony could reply to this somewhat embarrassing question, he
was called upon by his uncle, who was playing chess with the old
Captain, to decide some important problem in the game; and Godfrey, who
had been a painfully observant listener to their conversation, glided
into his vacant seat.
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