John Short on this matter;
he kept it to himself, and made much more of it in his imagination than
it deserved. Bessie had already forgotten it, except as a part of the
odd medley that her life seemed coming to, and in the recollection it
never vexed her; but it was like a grain of sand in her grandfather's
eye whenever he reviewed the incidents of this time. He gathered from
the lawyer's account of the interview how little acceptable to Bessie
was the notion of being sent to school, and asked why she should not go
to Abbotsmead at once?
"There is no reason why she should not go to Abbotsmead if you will have
a lady in the house--a governess," said Mr. John Short.
"I will have no governess in the house; I suppose she is too young to be
alone?"
"Well, yes. Mrs. Carnegie would not easily let her go unless in the
assurance that she will be taken care of. She has been a good deal
petted and spoiled. She is a fine character, but she would give you
nothing but trouble if you took her straight home."
Lady Latimer, with whom Mr. Fairfax held further counsel, expressed much
the same opinion. She approved of Elizabeth, but it was impossible to
deny that she had too much self-will, that she was too much of the
little mistress. She had been sovereign in the doctor's house; to fall
amongst her equals in age and seniors in school would be an excellent
discipline. Mr. Fairfax acquiesced, and two or three years was the term
of purgatory to which Bessie heard herself condemned.
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