What it is, I can
not tell; I only know it is _not_ that which the young fool
calls it, still less that which the old sinner thinks it. As to
Letty's disobedience of her aunt's extravagant orders concerning
Tom, I must leave that to the judgment of the just, reminding
them that she was taken by surprise, and that, besides, it was
next to impossible to obey them. But Letty found herself very
uncomfortable, because there now was that to be known of her, the
knowledge of which would highly displease her aunt--for which
very reason, if for no other, ought she not to tell her all? On
the other hand, when she recalled how unkindly, how unjustly her
aunt had spoken, when she confessed her new acquaintance, it
became to her a question whether in very deed she _must_
tell her all that had passed that afternoon. There was no
smallest hope of any recognition of the act, surely more hard
than incumbent, but severity and unreason; _must_ she let
the thing out of her hands, and yield herself a helpless prey--
and that for good to none? Concerning Mrs. Wardour, she reasoned
justly: she who is even once unjust can not complain if the like
is expected of her again.
But, supposing it remained Letty's duty to acquaint her aunt with
what had taken place, and not forgetting that, as one of the old
people, I have to render account of the young that come after me,
and must be careful over their lovely dignities and fair duties,
I yet make haste to assert that the old people, who make it hard
for the young people to do right, may be twice as much to blame
as those whom they arraign for a concealment whose very heart is
the dread of their known selfishness, fierceness, and injustice.
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