tholics who are
as good as any Christians can be to whom the Bible is a sealed book,
and much better than many Protestants."

When the Brontes first went to Brussels, it was with the intention of
remaining there for six months, or until the _grandes vacances_ began in
September. The duties of the school were then suspended for six weeks or
two months, and it seemed a desirable period for their return. But the
proposal mentioned in the foregoing letter altered their plans. Besides,
they were happy in the feeling that they were making progress in all the
knowledge they had so long been yearning to acquire. They were happy,
too, in possessing friends whose society had been for years congenial to
them, and in occasional meetings with these, they could have the
inexpressible solace to residents in a foreign country--and peculiarly
such to the Brontes--of talking over the intelligence received from their
respective homes--referring to past, or planning for future days. "Mary"
and her sister, the bright, dancing, laughing Martha, were
parlour-boarders in an establishment just beyond the barriers of
Brussels. Again, the cousins of these friends were resident in the town;
and at their house Charlotte and Emily were always welcome, though their
overpowering shyness prevented their more valuable qualities from being
known, and generally kept them silent. They spent their weekly holiday
with this family, for many months; but at the end of the time, Emily was
as impenetrable to friendly advances as at the beginning; while Charlotte
was too physically weak (as "Mary" has expressed it) to "gather up her
forces" sufficiently to express any difference or opposition of opinion,
and had consequently an assenting and deferential manner, strangely at
variance with what they knew of her remarkable talents and decided
character. At this house, the T.'s and the Brontes could look forward to
meeting each other pretty frequently. There was another English family
where Charlotte soon became a welcome guest, and where, I suspect, she
felt herself more at her ease than either at Mrs. Jenkins', or the
friends whom I have first mentioned.

An English physician, with a large family of daughters, went to reside at
Brussels, for the sake of their education. He placed them at Madame
Heger's school in July, 1842, not a month before the beginning of the
_grandes vacances_ on August 15th. In order to make the most of their
time, and become