Mrs. Hopkins was
enjoined to write to her and tell her everything; and though Mrs.
Hopkins with all her heart took the side of Lady Ushant and
Reginald, she had never been well inclined to Miss Trefoil.
Presents too were given and promises were made; and Mrs. Hopkins,
not without some little treachery, did from time to time send to
the old lady a record of what took place at Bragton. Arabella came
and went, and Mrs. Hopkins thought that her coming had not led to
much. Lady Ushant was always with Mr. John,--such was the account
given by Mrs. Hopkins;--and the general opinion was that the
squire's days were numbered.
Then the old woman's jealousy was aroused, and, perhaps, her heart
was softened. It was still hard black winter, and she was living
alone in lodgings in London. The noble cousin, a man nearly as old
as herself whose children she was desirous to enrich, took but
little notice of her, nor would she have been Nappy had she lived
with him. Her life had been usually solitary,--with little breaks
to its loneliness occasioned by the visits to England of him whom
she had called her child. That this child should die before her,
should die in his youth, did not shock her much. Her husband had
done so, and her own son, and sundry of her noble brothers and
sisters. She was hardened against death.
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