Chapter 12 - Page 2

been taught; yet what two creatures could be more
unlike each other, by nature, than we are?"

Mr. Burmistone glanced across the room at Miss Egerton. She was a fine,
robust young woman, with a high nose and a stolid expression of
countenance.

"That is true," he remarked.

"We are afraid of every thing," said Lucia bitterly. "Lydia Egerton is
afraid--though you might not think so. And, as for me, nobody knows what
a coward I am but myself. Yes, I am a coward! When grandmamma looks at
me, I tremble. I dare not speak my mind, and differ with her, when I know
she is unjust and in the wrong. No one could say that of Miss Octavia
Bassett."

"That is perfectly true," said Mr. Burmistone; and he even went so far as
to laugh as he thought of Miss Octavia trembling in the august presence
of Lady Theobald.

The laugh checked Lucia at once in her little outburst of eloquence. She
began to blush, the color mounting to her forehead.

"Oh!" she began, "I did not mean to--to say so much. I"--

There was something so innocent and touching in her sudden timidity and
confusion, that Mr. Burmistone forgot altogether that they were not very
old friends, and that Lady Theobald might be looking.

He bent slightly forward, and looked into her upraised, alarmed eyes.

"Don't be afraid of _me_" he said; "don't, for pity's sake!"

He could not have hit upon a luckier speech, and also he could not have
uttered it more feelingly than he did. It helped her to recover herself,
and gave her courage.

"There," she said, with a slight catch of the breath, "does not that
prove what I said to be true? I was afraid, the very moment I ceased to
forget myself. I was afraid of you and of myself. I have no courage at
all."

"You will gain it in time," he said.

"I shall try to gain it," she answered. "I am nearly twenty, and it is
time that I should learn to respect myself. I think it must be because I
have no self-respect that I am such a coward."

It seemed that her resolution was to be tried immediately; for at that
very moment Lady Theobald turned, and, on recognizing the full
significance of Lucia's position, was apparently struck temporarily dumb
and motionless. When she recovered from the shock, she made a majestic
gesture of command.

Mr. Burmistone glanced at the girl's face, and saw that it changed color
a little. "Lady Theobald appears to wish to speak to you," he said.

Lucia left her seat, and walked across the room with a steady air. Lady
Theobald did not remove her eye from her until she stopped within three