" Ignorance is one of
the many things of which a lady of position is never ashamed;
wherein she is, it may be, more right than most of my readers
will be inclined to allow; for ignorance is not the thing to be
ashamed of, but neglect of knowledge. That a young person in
Mary's position should know a certain thing, was, on the other
hand, a reason why a lady in Hesper's position should not know
it! Was it possible a shop-girl should know anything that Hesper
ought to know and did not? It was foolish of Mary, perhaps, but
she had vaguely felt that a beautiful lady like Miss Mortimer,
and with such a name as Hesper, must know all the lovely things
she knew, and many more besides.
"He lived in the time of the Charleses," she said, with a tremble
in her voice, for she was ashamed to show her knowledge against
the other's ignorance.
"Ah!" drawled Hesper, with a confused feeling that people who
kept shops read stupid old books that lay about, because they
could not subscribe to a circulating library.--"Are you fond of
poetry?" she added; for the slight, shadowy shyness, into which
her venture had thrown Mary, drew her heart a little, though she
hardly knew it, and inclined her to say something.
"Yes," answered Mary, who felt like a child questioned by a
stranger in the road; "--when it is good," she added,
hesitatingly.
"What do you mean by good?" asked Hesper--out of her knowledge,
Mary thought, but it was not even out of her ignorance, only out
of her indifference.
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