Henrietta's Wish; Or, DomineeringYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
General
Henrietta's Wish; Or, Domineering
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Domestic fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
“O yes,” said Fred, “we can never feel otherwise than that. To know how
she forgave us both, and how her wishes always turned to be the same
as ours, if ours were not actually wrong; that is little comfort to
remember, now, but perhaps it will be in time. But don’t you see,
Henrietta, my dear, what Uncle Geoffrey means?--that if you did domineer
over her, it was very wrong, and you may be sorry for that; but that you
must not accuse yourself of doing all the mischief by bringing her here.
He says he does not know whether it was not, after all, what was most
for her comfort, if--”
“O, Freddy, to have you almost killed!”
“If the thoughts I have had lately will but stay with me when I am well
again, I do not think my accident will be a matter of regret, Henrietta.
Just consider, when I was so disobedient in these little things, and
attending so little to her or to Uncle Geoffrey, how likely it was that
I might have gone on to much worse at school and college.”
“Never, never!” said Henrietta.
“Not now, I hope,” said Fred; “but that was not what I meant to say. No
one could say, Uncle Geoffrey told me, that the illness was brought on
either by anxiety or over-exertion. The complaint was of long standing,
and must have made progress some time or other; and he said that he was
convinced that, as she said to Aunt Geoffrey, she had rather have been
here than anywhere else. She said she could only be sorry for grandpapa
and grandmamma’s sake, but that for herself it was great happiness to
have been to Knight Sutton Church once more; and she was most thankful
that she had come to die in my father’s home, after seeing us well
settled here, instead of leaving us to come to it as a strange place.”
“How little we guessed it was for that,” said Henrietta. “O what were we
doing? But if it made her happy--”
“Just imagine what to-day would have been if we were at Rocksand,” said
Fred. “I, obliged to go back to school directly, and you, taking leave
of everything there which would seem to you so full of her; and Uncle
Geoffrey, just bringing you here without any time to stay with you, and
the place and people all strange. I am sure that she who thought so much
for you, must have rejoiced that you are at home here already.”
“Home!” said Henrietta, “how determinedly we used to call it so! But O,
that my wish should have turned out in such a manner! If it has been all
overruled so as to be happiness to her, as I am sure it has, I cannot
complain; but I think I shall never wish again, or care for my own way.”
“The devices and desires of our own hearts!” said Fred.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account