Christian fiction; Scotland -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
was naturally quick-tempered, and the chief trouble they caused her was
the control of her temper; for, although she had early come to
recognize the imperative duty of this branch of self-government, she
was not yet perfect in it. Not every one who can serve unboundedly can
endure patiently; and the more gentle some natures, the more they
resent the rudeness which springs from an opposite nature; absolutely
courteous, they flame at discourtesy, and thus lack of the perfection
to which patience would and must raise them. When Turnbull, in the
narrow space behind the counter, would push his way past her without
other pretense of apology than something like a sneer, she did feel for
a moment as if evil were about to have the victory over her; and when
Mrs. Turnbull came in, which happily was but seldom, she felt as if
from some sepulchre in her mind a very demon sprang to meet her. For
she behaved to her worst of all. She would heave herself in with the
air and look of a vulgar duchess; for, from the height of her small
consciousness, she looked down upon the shop, and never entered it save
as a customer. The daughter of a small country attorney, who,
notwithstanding his unneglected opportunities, had not been too
successful to accept as a husband for his daughter such a tradesman as
John Turnbull, she arrogated position from her idea of her father's
position; and, while bitterly cherishing the feeling that she had
married beneath her, obstinately excluded the fact that therein she had
descended to her husband's level, regarding herself much in the light
of a princess whose disguise takes nothing from her rank. She was like
those ladies who, having set their seal to the death of their first
husbands by marrying again, yet cling to the title they gave them, and
continue to call themselves by their name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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