Meanwhile she went on living at Ford Bank, quite unconscious of the state
of her father's affairs, but sunk into a deep, plaintive melancholy,
which affected her looks and the tones of her voice in such a manner as
to distress Miss Monro exceedingly. It was not that the good lady did
not quite acknowledge the great cause her pupil had for grieving--deserted
by her lover, her father dead--but that she could not bear the outward
signs of how much these sorrows had told on Ellinor. Her love for the
poor girl was infinitely distressed by seeing the daily wasting away, the
constant heavy depression of spirits, and she grew impatient of the
continual pain of sympathy. If Miss Monro could have done something to
relieve Ellinor of her woe, she would have been less inclined to scold
her for giving way to it.
The time came when Miss Monro could act; and after that, there was no
more irritation on her part. When all hope of Ellinor's having anything
beyond the house and grounds of Ford Bank was gone; when it was proved
that all the legacies bequeathed by Mr. Wilkins not one farthing could
ever be paid; when it came to be a question how far the beautiful
pictures and other objects of art in the house were not legally the
property of unsatisfied creditors, the state of her father's affairs was
communicated to Ellinor as delicately as Mr.
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