The habitual awe with which she regarded this singular personage,
induced Mistress Margaret, though by no means delighting in
contradiction or reproof, to listen with patience to her admonitions,
and to make full allowance for the good intentions of the patroness by
whom they were bestowed; although in her heart she could hardly
conceive how Madame Hermione, who never stirred from the Foljambe
apartments, should think of teaching knowledge of the world to one who
walked twice a-week between Temple Bar and Lombard Street, besides
parading in the Park every Sunday that proved to be fair weather.
Indeed, pretty Mistress Margaret was so little inclined to endure such
remonstrances, that her intercourse with the inhabitants of the
Foljambe apartments would have probably slackened as her circle of
acquaintance increased in the external world, had she not, on the one
hand, entertained an habitual reverence for her monitress, of which
she could not divest herself, and been flattered, on the other, by
being to a certain degree the depository of a confidence for which
others thirsted in vain. Besides, although the conversation of
Hermione was uniformly serious, it was not in general either formal or
severe; nor was the lady offended by flights of levity which Mistress
Margaret sometimes ventured on in her presence, even when they were
such as made Monna Paula cast her eyes upwards, and sigh with that
compassion which a devotee extends towards the votaries of a trivial
and profane world.
Pages:
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378