"Indeed, Giles, you should have
chosen a better moment for this conversation--on almost your first
arrival too! But the very existence of this child is a misfortune!"
"Let us trust that in a few years she may give you reason to think
otherwise," said the Colonel. "Did you mean what you said--that you
wished us to take her to-morrow?"
"Not to incommode Emily. She can go on as she has done till your
plans are made. You do not know what a child she is."
"Emily shall come and settle with you to-morrow," said Colonel
Umfraville. "I have not yet spoken to her, but I think she will wish
to have the child with her."
"And you will be patient with her. You will make her happy," said
Lady Jane, holding his hand.
"Everything is made happy by Emily," he answered.
"But has she spirits for the charge?"
"She has always spirits enough to give happiness to others," he
answered; and the dew was on his dark lashes.
"And you, Giles--you will not be severe even if the poor child is a
little wild?"
"I know what you are thinking of, Jane," he said kindly. "But
indeed, my dear, such a wife as mine, and such sorrows as she has
helped me to bear, would have been wasted indeed, if by God's grace
they had not made me less exacting and impatient than I used to be.--
Barbara," he added after a pause, "I beg your pardon if I have spoken
hastily, or done you injustice. All you have done has been
conscientious; and if I spoke in displeasure--you know how one's
spirit is moved by seeing a child unhappy--and my training in
gentleness is not as complete as it ought to be, I am sorry for the
pain I gave you.
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