To
herself she justified her kindness to Mary with the remark that
_the young woman deserved encouragement_--whatever that
might mean--_because she was so anxious to improve
herself!_--a duty Hesper could recognize in another.
As they went, Mary told her something of her miserable relations
with the Turnbulls; and, as they returned, Hesper actually--this
time with perfect seriousness--proposed that she should give up
business, and live with her.
Nor was this the ridiculous thing it may at first sight appear to
not a few of my readers. It arose from what was almost the first
movement in the direction of genuine friendship Hesper had ever
felt. She had been familiar in her time with a good many, but
familiarity is not friendship, and may or may not exist along
with it. Some, who would scorn the idea of a _friendship_
with such as Mary, will be familiar enough with maids as selfish
as themselves, and part from them--no--part _with_ them, the
next day, or the next hour, with never a twinge of regret. Of
this, Hesper was as capable as any; but friendship is its own
justification, and she felt no horror at the new motion of her
heart. At the same time she did not recognize it as friendship,
and, had she suspected Mary of regarding their possible relation
in that light, she would have dismissed her pride, perhaps
contempt. Nevertheless the sorely whelmed divine thing in her had
uttered a feeble sigh of incipient longing after the real; Mary
had begun to draw out the love in her; while her conventional
judgment justified the proposed extraordinary proceeding with the
argument of the endless advantages to result from having in the
house, devoted to her wishes, a young woman with an absolute
genius for dressmaking; one capable not only of originating in
that foremost of arts, but, no doubt, with a little experience,
of carrying out also with her own hands the ideas of her
mistress.
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