and crimes of a certain number
of fathers to sow the seed from which WE reap the harvest of governesses. The
daughters of trades-people, however well educated, must necessarily be
under-bred, and as such unfit to be inmates of OUR dwellings, or guardians of
OUR children's minds and persons. WE shall ever prefer to place those about OUR
offspring, who have been born and bred with somewhat of the same refinement as
OURSELVES.«
    »Miss Hardman must have thought herself something better than her
fellow-creatures, ma'am, since she held that their calamities, and even crimes,
were necessary to minister to her convenience. You say she was religious: her
religion must have been that of the Pharisee, who thanked God that he was not as
other men are, nor even as that publican.«
    »My dear, we will not discuss the point: I should be the last person to wish
to instil into your mind any feeling of dissatisfaction with your lot in life,
or any sentiment of envy or insubordination towards your superiors. Implicit
submission to authorities, scrupulous deference to our betters (under which term
I, of course, include the higher classes of society) are, in my opinion,
indispensable to the wellbeing of every community. All I mean to say, my dear,
is, that you had better not attempt to be a governess, as the duties of the
position would be too severe for your constitution. Not one word of disrespect
would I breathe towards either Mrs. or Miss Hardman; only, recalling my own
experience, I cannot but feel that, were you to fall under auspices such as
theirs, you would contend a while courageously with your doom; then you would
pine and grow too weak for your work: you would come home - if you still had a
home - broken down. Those languishing years would follow, of which none but the
invalid and her immediate friends feel the heart-sickness and know the burden:
consumption or decline would close the chapter. Such is the history of many a
life: I would not have it yours. My dear, we will now walk about a little, if
you please.«
    They both rose and slowly paced a green natural terrace bordering the chasm.
    »My dear,« erelong again began Mrs. Pryor, a sort of timid, embarrassed
abruptness marking her manner as she spoke, »the young, especially those to whom
nature has been favourable - often - frequently - anticipate - look forward to -
to marriage as the end, the goal of their hopes.«