Had Julia observed? To ascertain this without speaking of him,
Mrs. Dodd waited till they had got some little distance, then quietly put
out her hand and rested it for a moment on her daughter's; the girl was
trembling violently "Little wretch!" came to Mrs. Dodd's lips, but she
did not utter it. They were near home before she spoke at all, and then
she only said very kindly, "My love, you will not be subjected again to
these trials:" a remark intended quietly to cover the last occurrence as
well as Alfred's open persecution.
They had promised to go out the very next day; but Mrs. Dodd went alone,
and made excuses for Miss Dodd. On her return she found Julia sitting up
for her, and a letter come from her friend describing a pleasant cottage,
now vacant, near Maida Vale. Mrs. Dodd handed the open letter to Julia;
she read it without comment.
"We will go up to-morrow and take it for three months. Then the Oxford
vacation will terminate."
"Yes, mamma."
I am now about to relate a circumstance by no means without parallels,
but almost impossible to account for; and, as nothing is more common and
contemptible than inadequate solutions, I will offer none at all: but so
it was, that Mrs.
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