to
unknown seaside places in the north when little Philip was still a
child, and to quiet places abroad when he grew a boy, and it was thought
a good thing for him to learn languages, and to be taught that there
were other countries in the world besides England. They were absent for
one whole winter in France and another in Germany with this motive, that
Philip should learn these languages, which he did _tant bien que mal_
with much assistance from his mother, who taught herself everything
that she thought the boy should know, and shared his lessons in order
to push him gently forward. And on the whole, he did very well in this
particular of language, showing much aptitude, though not perhaps much
application. I would not assert that the ladies, with an opinion very
common among women, and also among youth in general, did not rather
glory in the thought that he could do almost anything he liked (which
was their opinion, and in some degree while he was very young, the
opinion of his masters), with the appearance of doing nothing at all.
But on the whole, his education was the most difficult matter in which
they had yet been engaged. How was he to be educated? His birth and
condition pointed to one of the great public schools, and Mrs. Dennistoun,
who had made many economics in that retirement, was quite able to give
the child what they both called the best education. But how could they
send him to Eton or Harrow? A boy who knew nothing about his parentage
or his family, a boy bearing a well-known name, who would be subject to
endless questions where he came from, who he belonged to? a hundred
things which neither in Waterdale nor in their travels had ever been
asked of him. What the Waterdale people thought on the subject, or how
much they knew, I should not like to inquire. There are ways of finding
out everything, and people who possess family secrets are often
extraordinarily deceived in respect to what is known and what is not
known of those secrets. My own opinion is that there is scarcely such a
thing as a secret in the world. If any moment of great revolution comes
in your life you generally find that your neighbours are not much
surprised. They have known it, or they have suspected it, all along, and
it is well if they have not suspected more than the truth. So it is
quite possible that these excellent people knew all about Elinor: but
Elinor did not think so, which was the great thing.

However, there cannot be