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    182 THE MISBEEDS OF AURA PJLAISTOW.

• Transcript

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    I. She Was But Nineteen; And Nineteen Do...

    Aura , not being very reflective , thought no more of Tom ' s description of his people . She got her things together , and made

    herself ready for her visit quite tranquilly , only rather grave and silent for Aura , when the day actually came ; yet determined to find

    all beautiful and bright , and quite decided on seeing no faults in dear Tom ' s family . " Did he see any in the little mother , or in

    papa— -good papa ? and didn't he love all the children as if they were his own ? Why should she be so ungrateful , then , as to find

    fault with anything of his ? " So , with the careless courage of her nature , she kissed her mother and the children , hugged her father ,

    and patted _& ae old Carlo ; then sprung into the carriage , her full red lips parted into a wide smile , but something very like a tear ,

    too , in her dark eyes , as she leaned forward for the last look and the last good-bye . For this was the first time that she had ever

    leffc home , and her visit was a formidable ordeal , even to her . But it must be gone through with now as bravely as might be ;

    so she and Tom drove off gaily enough , after the first little burst of grief was over , and Aura ' s spirits soon rose to their usual height

    again . Tom was going with her , both to take care of her on her journey ,

    and to introduce her to the grim Assessors at the end of it . This had been Mrs . Delane ' s doing ; for her strong hope lay in being

    able to make her son feel for himself , -when under the influence of his own homethe impropriety and incongruity of this " silly

    , blunder . " She was very sure that Aura would not fit in well with the tone and life of the Hollies ; and she believed that Tom

    "would stand by his own home . So she waived appearances , and asked only for opportunities .

    The day passed "without accident . Aura was a capital traveller , but rather distracting too . At crowded railway stations she might

    _Tbe looked for talking to jaded women , with small babies and huge baskets , or questioning old laborers in smock frocks as to where

    they came from , and how much they earned a week . Nay , at one station , where the trains crossed , and the times did not serve , Tom

    detected her standing with a heap of animated rags in her arms . " She was only holding . a poor woman ' s child , while she went to

    look for her husband , " she said , when Tom went up to her , and remonstrated somewhat severely ; for the Delane blood had been

    dignified in some of its channels , and Tom had a proper regard for that fact . However , these and sundry other misdeeds were all

    worked off in time , and by the evening' the young people found themselves at the door of a pretty , but distressingly neat and trim

    house , which Tom said was _^ his home . " " Don't you go in without knocking ? " asked Aura when he rang

    the _bells standing on the step without opening the door . At Merridno even visitors did not ring . It was open house to all , and

    the very beggar might have rested in the hall , had he been inclined . " We never do , " said Tom , in a low voice . " My mother . does

    not like us to take liberties . " -

    182 The Misbeeds Of Aura Pjlaistow.

    182 THE MISBEEDS OF AURA _PJLAISTOW .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1858, page 182, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111858/page/38/