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THE MISDEEDS OF AURA PLAISTOW. 195
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.
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Transcript
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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.
I. She Was But Nineteen; And Nineteen Do...
_Ijo "be harsh , and vulgar . Her dress , which he had always praised for its good senseadaptabilityand perfect harmony was now outre ;
her manner , which , had once reminded , Master Tom of his classics , in that it was like an oread ' s or a nymph ' s in Diana ' s train , was now
hoydenish ; her temper was provokingly obtuse in its ridiculous good-nature ; her laugh was almost an imbecility ; she neglected
him ; she derided him ; she was careless of his mother ' s peculiarities ; she liked George Grace a great deal better than any one
else in the house . "So I do , " interrupted Miss Aura , " for he is the kindest and most good-natured to me . " In short she was
everything by turns , according to the hue of his shifting mood ; and to crown his iniquities he told her " to take a pattern of his sisters' *
, " for see ! " said Tom , conceitedly , " what thorough-bred girls they are and look ! " To which Aura answered with an explosion of
contempt , and " I'd rather be in my grave than be like them or any of you . "
When things have come to such a crisis as this between promised man and wife , they have but one choice before them—to part . They
ean get ( no good together from henceforth . Nor - indeed can any connexionbe it of love or simple friendshipwhich has once been
assaulted , by personal recrimination . There , are some blows which leave a mark for ever , some wounds which never heal , and this is
one of them . On the day when Tom placed Aura at the feet of his sisters , her hand glided from his grasp ; and while fitting on the
suit of sackcloth he chose his Love to wear , the little god flew through the windowsleaving behind him only his arrows tipped
, with regrets and winged with self accusations . After this conversation with her lover , Aura pondered a full half
hour , then suddenly seizing a blotted piece of torn foolscap , she wrote home to Merridno , and announced her return for the next day .
" Tom and she had quarrelled , " she said , " and she was entirely disgusted with him and the Hollies , and everything connected with
them ; and she wanted to get away from a house where there always seemed to be an illness or a scolding going on . Tom was
no longer their old Tom , he was a changed man , changed to a most disagreeable and unkind person . She never saw any one so gone
off in her whole life ; but his cousin , George Grace , said he Avas always the sameand the change must have been when he was at
had Merridno found , not him now out , . in If tim so e , , " she concluding , Aura Plaistow with the , was aphorism very g , lad " Plow she
deceitful he has been . " But poor Tom , with all his faults , was not that . He had only
fallen in love with an uncongenial life , and was weak and easily if swayed Without packing . say that ing could a word be to called any , one which , Aura was packed an up unconditional her trunk ,
cramming together of various articles in a given space ; and the next morning she appeared at the breakfast table in her travelling
VOL . II . P 2
The Misdeeds Of Aura Plaistow. 195
THE MISDEEDS OF AURA PLAISTOW . 195
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1858, page 195, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111858/page/51/
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