Moderately good people have no
idea of the vileness of which their own nature is capable, or which
has been developed in not a few who pass as respectable persons, and
have not yet been accused either of theft or poisoning. Such as St.
Paul alone can fully understand the abyss of moral misery from which
the in-dwelling spirit of God has raised them.
The one redeeming element in Amanda was her love to her mother, but
inasmuch as it was isolated and self-reflected, their mutual
attachment partook of the nature of a cultivated selfishness, and
had lost much of its primal grace. The remaining chance for such a
woman, so to speak, seems--that she should either fall in love with
a worthy man, if that be still possible to her, or, by her own
conduct, be brought into dismal and incontrovertible disgrace.
She had stood in the hall within a few yards of Dorothy, and had
intently watched her face all the time Richard was before the
marquis. But not because she watched the field of their play was
Amanda able to read the heart whence ascended those strangely
alternating lights and shadows.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200