England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
I awoke the next morning with a certain feeling of relief. Clarence
Payne, it is true, had given me no definite advice as yet, but it was a
comfort to know that he, to a great extent, understood and certainly
sympathised with my position. Then, too, I was thankful to have his
assurance that Caryll Grey's condition was not quite such a critical one
as I had begun to fear; not improbably indeed, if any action were taken
on the knowledge that had come to me, even if it affected the whole
fortunes of the Grey family satisfactorily, it might have to be kept
secret from the younger brother till he had progressed further towards
the partial recovery which there now seemed some hope of. And in the
meantime, I felt well content to rest on my oars for a little, knowing
that I had done what I could for the best. There was something bracing
and strengthening in Clarence's simple belief that when one so acted,
direction--guidance--call it what you will, would come.
I shall always remember that Sunday in Granville Square. Owing
possibly, in part, to the sort of nervous tension I had worked myself up
to, now succeeded by a reaction to comparative restfulness, it has left
on my memory an association of peculiar peacefulness. To a country-bred
person, in those days perhaps more than now, the quiet of the London
streets on a Sunday struck me agreeably, and this quiet one I enjoyed to
the full in my present quarters. The old-fashioned square was almost as
silent as in the middle of the night, and indoors, though the Paynes
were far from puritanical either in belief or practice, the first day of
the week was observed somewhat strictly, in the sense, above all, of its
being reposeful and calm for the whole household, servants as well as
masters. Not that at my godmother's the true spirit of the fourth
commandment was set aside, but she was of a different nature, and seemed
to belong to a different order of things, socially speaking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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