I'm sick of the very word," petulantly.
"What position, really, is she supposed to occupy?"
"She is the governess," said Mrs. Pinckney in a sulky tone.
"Now listen, Virginia. I have seen that young girl darning stockings in
the school-room and at the same time hearing the children's lessons; I
have seen her arrange the dinner-table, with the children clinging to
her skirts; I have seen her with the keys, giving out the stores; I
know she keeps your accounts; and I can readily comprehend where those
clear, well-expressed letters came from, although signed by you, which
I have frequently received in my character of guardian and executor."
"You certainly don't think I meant to deceive you as to the letters?"
"Oh no," replied her brother-in-law: "I don't think you in the least
deceitful, Virginia;" and in his own mind reflected, "'Hypocrisy is the
homage which vice pays to virtue.'"
Nobody likes hypocrisy, to be sure, but Mrs. Pinckney did not take the
trouble to veil her peccadilloes. Easy and indolent as she was, being
now thoroughly roused by his thinly-veiled contempt, she endeavored to
be disagreeable in her turn. With the most innocent air in the world
she exclaimed, "I declare, Dick, I believe you're in love with Miss
Featherstone, although you like fair women--"
"And she is dark," he interrupted.
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