FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175  
176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   >>   >|  
hy. "The task has been painful to me." Dorothy went to her father and kissed him again, and Sir George departed. When the door was closed, Lady Crawford breathed a great sigh and said: "I thank Heaven, Dorothy, he does not know that you have been out of your room. How could you treat me so cruelly? How could you deceive me?" "That, Aunt Dorothy," replied the niece, "is because you are not old enough yet to be a match for a girl who is--who is in love." "Shame upon you, Dorothy!" said Lady Crawford. "Shame upon you, to act as you did, and now to speak so plainly about being in love! Malcolm said you were not a modest girl, and I am beginning to believe him." "Did Malcolm speak so ill of me?" asked Dorothy, turning toward me with a smile in her eyes. "My lady aunt," said I, turning to Lady Crawford, "when did I say that Dorothy was an immodest girl?" "You did not say it," the old lady admitted. "Dorothy herself said it, and she proves her words to be true by speaking so boldly of her feelings toward this--this strange man. And she speaks before Madge, too." "Perhaps Madge is in the same sort of trouble. Who knows?" cried Dorothy, laughing heartily. Madge blushed painfully. "But," continued Dorothy, seriously, "I am not ashamed of it; I am proud of it. For what else, my dear aunt, was I created but to be in love? Tell me, dear aunt, for what else was I created?" "Perhaps you are right," returned the old lady, who in fact was sentimentally inclined. "The chief end of woman, after all, is to love," said Dorothy. "What would become of the human race if it were not?" "Child, child," cried the aunt, "where learned you such things?" "They were written upon my mother's breast," continued Dorothy, "and I learned them when I took in my life with her milk. I pray they may be written upon my breast some day, if God in His goodness shall ever bless me with a baby girl. A man child could not read the words." "Dorothy, Dorothy!" cried Lady Crawford, "you shock me. You pain me." "Again I ask," responded Dorothy, "for what else was I created? I tell you, Aunt Dorothy, the world decrees that women shall remain in ignorance, or in pretended ignorance--in silence at least--regarding the things concerning which they have the greatest need to be wise and talkative." "At your age, Dorothy, I did not have half your wisdom on the subject," answered Lady Crawford. "Tell me, my sweet Aunt Dorothy, were you really i
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175  
176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Dorothy

 

Crawford

 

created

 
things
 

written

 
learned
 

continued

 

ignorance

 

Malcolm

 

turning


breast

 

Perhaps

 

mother

 

sentimentally

 

inclined

 
returned
 

remain

 

decrees

 
responded
 

talkative


greatest

 

pretended

 

silence

 

goodness

 

wisdom

 

subject

 

answered

 
boldly
 

cruelly

 

deceive


replied
 

plainly

 
Heaven
 

father

 

kissed

 

painful

 
George
 

breathed

 

closed

 

departed


trouble

 

speaks

 

laughing

 

ashamed

 
heartily
 

blushed

 

painfully

 
strange
 

feelings

 

modest