I shall never get on with her;
but I am glad she should come and be near you all; and Miles likes
her."
Mr. Charnock demurred at first, and wanted to saddle Cecil with her
old governess as a companion, but when he found that Mrs. Poynsett
and Miles made no objection, and remembered that she would be under
their wing, and would be an inestimable adviser and example to Anne,
he consented; and Cecil's arrangements were made with startling
rapidity, so that she was in possession before Christmas, which she
insisted on spending there. Dunstone had stereotyped hospitalities,
which she could not bear, and would not prevent, and now that her
first year of widowhood was over, the sorrow was not respected,
while it seemed to her more oppressive than ever.
So there she was in vehement activity; restless rather than
religious in her beneficence still, though the lesson she had had
showed itself in her constantly seeking the advice of Miles, who
thought her the most sensible woman in the world, except his Nan.
Whether this constant occupation, furnishing, repairing, planning,
beautifying her model cottages, her school chapel, and all the rest,
were lessening the heartache, no one knew, but the sharp black eyes
looked as dry and hard, the lines round the mouth as weary as ever;
and Rosamond sometimes thought if Sirenwood were not full of ghosts
to her, she was much like a ghost herself who came
"Hovering around her ancient home,
To find no refuge there.
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