It was of no consequence to her, she said to herself,
whether she spoke to him again or not; but had any one the right
to compel another to behave rudely? Only what did it matter,
since there was so little chance of her ever seeing him again!
All day she felt weary and disappointed, and, after the
merrymaking of the night before, the household work was irksome.
But she would soon have got over both weariness and tedium had
her aunt been kind. It is true, she did not again refer to Tom,
taking it for granted that he was done with; but all day she kept
driving Letty from one thing to another, nor was once satisfied
with anything she did, called her even an ungrateful girl, and,
before evening, had rendered her more tired, mortified, and
dispirited, than she had ever been in her life.
But the tormentor was no demon; she was only doing what all of us
have often done, and ought to be heartily ashamed of: she was
only emptying her fountain of bitter water. Oppressed with the
dregs of her headache, wretched because of her son's absence, who
had not been a night from home for years, annoyed that she had
spent time and money in preparation for nothing, she had allowed
the said cistern to fill to overflowing, and upon Letty it
overflowed like a small deluge. Like some of the rest of us, she
never reflected how balefully her evil mood might operate; and
that all things work for good in the end, will not cover those by
whom come the offenses.
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