Has he made any
difference between you and me? Only that I love you better. You are my
first love; the very first creature I remember, father. One summer day
you had me in your arms in the garden. I recollect looking at you and
knowing you. I think it was at that moment my soul found me."
"It was on a summer day, Charlotte? Eh? What?"
"And the garden was all roses, father; red with roses,--roses full of
scent. I can smell them yet. The sunshine, the roses, the sweet air,
your face,--I shall never, never forget that moment, father."
"Nor I. I was a very happy man in those days, Charlotte. Young and
happy, and full of hope. I thought my children were some new make of
children. I could not have believed then, that they would ever give me
a heartache, or have one themselves. And I had not a care. Money was
very easy with me then: now it is middling hard to bring buckle and
tongue together."
"When Sophia is married, we can begin and save a little. Mother and you
and I can be happy without extravagances."
"To be sure, we can; but the trouble is, my saving will be the losing of
all I have to send away. It is very hard, Charlotte, to do right at both
ends. Eh? What?"
After this conversation, spring came on rapidly, and it was not long ere
Charlotte managed to reach Up-Hill. She had not seen Ducie for several
weeks, and she was longing to hear something of Stephen. "But if ill had
come, ill would have cried out, and I would have heard tell;" she
thought, as she picked her way among the stones and _debris_ of the
winter storms.
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