Pen-portraits of literary women : $b by themselves and others, Volume 2 (of 2)
General
Pen-portraits of literary women : $b by themselves and others, Volume 2 (of 2)
Authors, English -- Biography; Women authors, English -- Biography
That time in Brussels was wasted upon Emily. The trivial characters
which Charlotte made immortal merely annoyed her. The new impressions
which gave another scope to Charlotte’s vision were nothing to her.
All that was grand, remarkable, passionate, under the surface of
that conventional Pensionnat de Demoiselles, was invisible to Emily.
Notwithstanding her genius she was very hard and narrow. Poor girl,
she was sick for home.... Charlotte’s engrossment in her new life,
her eagerness to please her master, was a contemptible weakness to
the imbittered heart. She would laugh when she found her elder sister
trying to arrange her homely gowns in the French taste, and stalk
silently through the large school-rooms with a fierce satisfaction in
her own ugly sleeves, in the Haworth cut of her skirts. She seldom
spoke a word to any one; only sometimes she would argue with Monsieur
Héger, perhaps secretly glad to have the chance of shocking Charlotte.
If they went out to tea, she would sit still on her chair, answering
“Yes,” and “No;” inert, miserable, with a heart full of tears. When her
work was done she would walk in the Crossbowmen’s ancient garden, under
the trees, leaning on her shorter sister’s arm, pale, silent--a tall,
stooping figure.... Emily did indeed work hard. She was there to work,
and not till she had learned a certain amount would her conscience
permit her to return to Haworth. It was for dear liberty that she
worked. She began German, a favorite study in after years, and of some
purpose, since the style of Hoffman left its impression on the author
of ‘Wuthering Heights.’ She worked hard at music; and in half a year
the stumbling school-girl became a brilliant and proficient musician.
Her playing is said to have been singularly accurate, vivid, and full
of fire. French, too, both in grammar and literature, was a constant
study.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Emily at home during Charlotte’s second sojourn in Brussels.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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