Bildungsromans; Love stories; Young women -- England -- Fiction
And she had her reward. There are virtues in this world which go without
any recompense, but there are other virtues upon which a prompt guerdon
is bestowed; and Lucilla possessed this happier development. Whether it
was that little speech of hers which touched the mimic's heart, or
whether the effect was produced by some other secret influence, it is
certain that this was the night on which Mrs Woodburn's talent came to
what may be called a sort of apotheosis. She shook off her languor as by
a sudden inspiration, and gave such a sketch of the Archdeacon as up to
this day is remembered more clearly in Carlingford than the man himself.
She took him off to his very face, and he never found it out, though
everybody else did, and the house shook with restrained laughter. And as
if this was not enough, Rose Lake had come with her portfolio, with some
sketches of her brother's (who afterwards became so celebrated) in it,
which electrified all the people who were fond of art; and by the side
of the young Preraphaelite was Barbara, who had come "to spite Lucilla,"
and who remained unwittingly to grace her triumph. She stood by herself,
all wan and crumpled, all the night, showing her disappointment and rage
and jilted state so clearly in her face, as to afford to all the mammas
in her neighbourhood a most startling example of the danger of showing
your feelings, with which to point a moral to the other young people
about. She had come because Rose was coming, and she would not be
eclipsed by her younger sister. But nobody took any notice of Barbara on
this miserable evening; nobody asked her to sing, or offered her a seat,
or even spoke to her, except Lucilla, who in her magnanimity found time
to say a word as she passed. She was carelessly dressed, and her hair
was hastily arranged, and her eyes were red. She had no desire to look
as if she had not been jilted, and had no proper pride, as Rose said;
and Mrs Chiley, who was Lucilla's partisan and champion, and who thought
poor Barbara deserved it all, seized the opportunity, and delivered a
little lecture on the subject to the first group of girls who came in
her way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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