My mother was now staying at my aunt's house, whither I went to call
upon her shortly after my arrival in town.
Our meeting was a constrained and painful one. It was my mother's
cruelty to Winifred that had, in my view, completely ruined two
lives. I did not know then what an awful struggle was going on in her
own breast between her pride and her remorse for having driven Winnie
away, to be lost in Wales. Afterwards her sad case taught me that
among all the agents of soul-torture that have ever stung mankind to
madness the scorpion Remorse is by far the most appalling. But other
events had to take place before she reached the state when the
scorpion stings to death all other passions, even Pride and even
Vanity, and reigns in the bosom supreme. We could hardly meet without
softening towards each other. She was most anxious to know what had
occurred to me since I left Raxton to search for Winnie. I gave her
the entire story from my first seeing Winnie in the cottage, to my
_rencontre_ with her at Knockers' Llyn. At this time she had
accidentally been brought into contact with Miss Dalrymple, who had
lately received a legacy and was now in better circumstances.
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