"
Zoe colored with pleasure. "O mamma," she said, "though I have been cross
and wilful sometimes, I would do anything in the world to please my
husband when he is loving and kind to me. But do you know, I can't bear to
be driven. I won't; if anybody tries it with me, it just rouses all that
is evil in me."
"Well, dear, I don't think any one in this house wants to drive you,"
Elsie said, repeating her caress, "not even your husband; though he is,
perhaps, a trifle masterful by nature. You and he will need to take the
two bears into your counsels," she added sportively.
"Two bears, mamma?" and Zoe looked up in surprise and perplexity.
"Yes, dear; bear and forbear, as the poet sings--
"'The kindest and the happiest pair
Will find occasion to forbear,
And something every day they live
To pity and perhaps forgive.'"
Zoe went slowly up to her own rooms and sat down to meditate upon her
mother-in-law's words.
"'Bear and forbear.' Well, when Edward reproves me as if he were my father
instead of my husband, and talks about what he will and won't allow, I
must bear with him, I suppose; and when I want to answer back that I'm my
own mistress and not under his control, I must forbear and deny myself the
pleasure.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205