Children of clergy -- Fiction; Christian fiction; Fathers and daughters -- Fiction; Scotland -- Fiction
Sympathy with the mother-passion in her bosom had melted away all my
resentment. She was a fine young woman, of about five and twenty, though
her weather-browned complexion made her look at first much older. With the
help of the servants, I persuaded her to have a bath, during which they
removed her clothes, and substituted others. She objected to putting them
on; seemed half-frightened at them, as if they might involve some shape of
bondage, and begged to have her own again. At last Jemima, who, although so
sparingly provided with brains, is not without genius, prevailed upon her,
insisting that her little girl would turn away from her if she wasn't well
dressed, for she had been used to see ladies about her. With a deep sigh,
she yielded; begging, however, to have her old garments restored to her.
She had brought with her a small bundle, tied up in a cotton handkerchief;
and from it she now took a scarf of red silk, and twisted it up with her
black hair in a fashion I had never seen before. In this head-dress she
had almost a brilliant look; while her carriage had a certain dignity
hard of association with poverty--not inconsistent, however, with what
I have since learned about the gypsies. My husband admired her even more
than I did, and made a very good sketch of her. Her eyes were large and
dark--unquestionably fine; and if there was not much of the light of
thought in them, they had a certain wildness which in a measure made up for
the want. She had rather a Spanish than an Eastern look, I thought, with an
air of defiance that prevented me from feeling at ease with her; but in the
presence of Miss Clare she seemed humbler, and answered her questions more
readily than ours. If Ethel was in the room, her eyes would be constantly
wandering after her, with a wistful, troubled, eager look. Surely, the
mother-passion must have infinite relations and destinies.
As I was unable to leave home, my father persuaded Miss Clare to accompany
him and help him to take charge of her. I confess it was a relief to me
when she left the house; for though I wanted to be as kind to her as I
could, I felt considerable discomfort in her presence.
When Miss Clare returned, the next day but one, I found she had got from
her the main points of her history, fully justifying previous conjectures
of my father's, founded on what he knew of the character and customs of the
gypsies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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