On this page
-
Text (1)
-
174 SUCCESS AND "FAILURE' . *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Mm P Part Ii. Chapter Iii. To Doraarthur...
How could she recall one who had given her up so hastily ? There might after all be a flaw in the love which had allowed itself to be
tarnished by what seemed to Dora such a mere vapour . Could Wyndham have known , during his headlong journey through
Switzerland , Italy , Greece , Palestine , and Egypt , that Dora was sufferinghow quickly would he have hastened back ! The pain
, our errors cause is salutary , for sooner or later we overcome it and them , but alas ! the happiness of which they deprive us is irre- *
vocable . After the affairs of the deceased had been settled , after her small
personal property had been sold , not , as the widow fondly hoped , for her daughter ' s benefit , but by that daughter to satisfy claims and
pay debts which the unfortunate failure had entailed on her mother , Dora found herself penniless and homeless . But youth , health , and
energy never yet found themselves hopeless . Dora was sufficiently beloved for many to bestir themselves for her , and she found no
difficulty in procuring a situation as governess . It was with a sad and aching , but not a crushed or despairing
heart , that Dora commenced , this' new career . She had a brave spiritand a sound understanding . She could distinguish between
, trials and afflictions . She could submit with resignation to the affliction of her bereavement , but she mourned it as an affliction .
The trial of poverty and a lonely lot she could endure , improve , and finally overcome . She had turned over the leaves of the past , and
had opened the book of life at another page ; a page on which ., there was no glowing illumination of love and hope , such as had mtherto
charmed and delighted her , but on it was traced the symbol of suffering ; she must contemplate it patiently , and steadfastly work
out its meaning . She trusted that she might meet Wyndham again , that as friends ,
if not as betrothed lovers , should fortune never smile upon them , they might tread side by side the difficult path of life . A woman can
always imagine and realise a devoted yet pure friendship for a man she loves but whom she cannot marry , a man rarely does so . Is it
because the equilibrium between his passions and affections is less nicely adjusted and balanced ? Arthur was unthought of .
However much we may struggle , let us be once convinced of the utter worthlessness of the friend we have loved , and it is an easy matter
at once to drop them out of our lives . The pain is while we doubt , while we think in our foolish love that we are the culprits , while
we fear that it is resentment and not justice which blames them , but when the waves have been ploughed through one by one we
reach the shore at last and it is all over . To Dora , Arthur was as deadas if the grave clothes already bound him . Positive faults
, might have been forgiven , but this poverty of nature , this shallowness of heart was inexpiable .
Wyndham , when he thought he had done that which justice and
tenderness required—the yielding Dora to Arthur—had immediately
174 Success And "Failure' . *
174 SUCCESS AND " FAILURE ' . *
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1859, page 174, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051859/page/30/
-