A Red Wallflower

Name: A Red Wallflower
Author: Warner, Susan

Warner, Susan

Fiction

'I am obliged to believe in it. I have known a person who seemed to be
clean lifted up out of the mud and mire of troublesome circumstances,
and to have got up to a region of permanent clear air and sunshine. I
have been envying that person ever since.'

'May I ask, was it a man or a woman?'

'Neither; it was a young girl.'

'It is easy to be happy at _that_ age.'

'Not for her. She had been very unhappy.'

'And got over it?'

'Yes; but not by virtue of her youth or childishness, as you suppose.
She was one of those natures that are born with a great capacity for
suffering, and she had begun to find it out early; and it was from the
depths of unhappiness that she came out into clear and peaceful
sunshine; with nothing to help her either in her external surroundings.'

'Couldn't you follow her steps and attain her experience?' asked Miss
Frere mockingly.

Pitt rose up from the mat where he had been lying, laughed, and shook
himself.

'As you will not go to drive,' he said, 'I believe I will go alone.'

But he went on horseback, and rode hard.




CHAPTER XXXV.

_ANTIQUITIES_.


As Pitt went off, Mrs. Dallas came on the verandah. 'You would not go
to drive?' she said to Betty.

'It is so hot, dear Mrs. Dallas! I had what was much better than a
drive--a good long talk.'

'What do you think of my boy?' asked the mother, with an accent of
happy confidence in which there was also a vibration of pride.

'He puzzles me. Has he not some peculiar opinions?'

'Have you found that out already?' said Mrs. Dallas, with a change of
tone. 'That shows he must like you very much, Betty; my son is not
given to letting himself out on those subjects. Even to me he very
seldom speaks of them.'

'What subjects do you mean, dear Mrs. Dallas?' inquired the young lady
softly.

'I mean,' said Mrs. Dallas uneasily and hesitating, 'some sort of
religious questions. I told you he had had to do at one time with
dissenting people, and I think their influence has been bad for him. I
hoped in England he would forget all that, and become a true Churchman.
What did he say?'

'Nothing about the Church, or about religion. I do not believe it would
be easy for any one to influence him, Mrs. Dallas.'

'You can do it, Betty, if any one. I am hoping in you.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A Red WallflowerWarner, Susan

General

A Red Wallflower

Warner, Susan

Fiction

'I am obliged to believe in it. I have known a person who seemed to be
clean lifted up out of the mud and mire of troublesome circumstances,
and to have got up to a region of permanent clear air and sunshine. I
have been envying that person ever since.'

'May I ask, was it a man or a woman?'

'Neither; it was a young girl.'

'It is easy to be happy at _that_ age.'

'Not for her. She had been very unhappy.'

'And got over it?'

'Yes; but not by virtue of her youth or childishness, as you suppose.
She was one of those natures that are born with a great capacity for
suffering, and she had begun to find it out early; and it was from the
depths of unhappiness that she came out into clear and peaceful
sunshine; with nothing to help her either in her external surroundings.'

'Couldn't you follow her steps and attain her experience?' asked Miss
Frere mockingly.

Pitt rose up from the mat where he had been lying, laughed, and shook
himself.

'As you will not go to drive,' he said, 'I believe I will go alone.'

But he went on horseback, and rode hard.




CHAPTER XXXV.

_ANTIQUITIES_.


As Pitt went off, Mrs. Dallas came on the verandah. 'You would not go
to drive?' she said to Betty.

'It is so hot, dear Mrs. Dallas! I had what was much better than a
drive--a good long talk.'

'What do you think of my boy?' asked the mother, with an accent of
happy confidence in which there was also a vibration of pride.

'He puzzles me. Has he not some peculiar opinions?'

'Have you found that out already?' said Mrs. Dallas, with a change of
tone. 'That shows he must like you very much, Betty; my son is not
given to letting himself out on those subjects. Even to me he very
seldom speaks of them.'

'What subjects do you mean, dear Mrs. Dallas?' inquired the young lady
softly.

'I mean,' said Mrs. Dallas uneasily and hesitating, 'some sort of
religious questions. I told you he had had to do at one time with
dissenting people, and I think their influence has been bad for him. I
hoped in England he would forget all that, and become a true Churchman.
What did he say?'

'Nothing about the Church, or about religion. I do not believe it would
be easy for any one to influence him, Mrs. Dallas.'

'You can do it, Betty, if any one. I am hoping in you.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Red Wallflower

A Red Wallflower

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