THE STORY OF ANNE MA TURIN 
lonely. It was Anne who kept things going, 
and kept her aunt from feeling too much 
the loss of her daughters ; but yet Mrs. Hart- 
ley, with natural feeling, snubbed her niece 
when she made her little brag of being the 
only young lady in the house. 
“Anne is a good girl,” she said, “ but if 
she thinks she can replace my own girls — ” 
“ Hush, mamma ! ” cried Letty, who was 
a kind soul. “ She did not mean to replace 
us; but I am sure she is a comfort.” 
And Mrs. Hartley admitted that she was 
a comfort, though not like her very own. 
Fortunately, however, Anne did not hear 
this. She missed the girls very much, and 
she thought it natural that their mother 
should miss them still more, and that dreary 
reflection which comes to so many minds, 
“Many love me, yet by none 
Am I enough beloved,” 
had never entered her young soul. She was 
happy and light-hearted, and contented with 
what was given to her. The other state of 
mind, with its deeper questionings, may be 
more picturesque and more imposing ; but 
to live with, commend me to the fresh heart 
which takes what it has and is happy, and 
grumbles not for more. She was twenty- 
two when she rose to the dignity of being 
the only young lady in the house ; and what 
with her aunt to love and care for, and her 
cousins’ brand-new houses to visit and ad- 
mire, and “ the boys ” still in the house “ for 
company,” Anne Maturin was as cheerful and 
as pleasant a young creature as eye could 
desire to see. She was pretty and yet not 
striking, with the prettiness of youth and 
health, and roundness and bloom and good 
temper, rather than with positive beauty of 
any description. Her nose was not worth 
speaking of ; her mouth, like most people’s 
mouths, was somewhat defective. Her eyes 
were bright but not brilliant ; well opened 
but not very large. In short, nice, warm, 
shining, ordinary brown eyes, such as you 
could find by the dozen. Her figure light 
and springy, her hair wavy and abundant. 
A nice girl, — this was what everybody said 
of her ; pleasant to talk to, pleasant to look 
at, but no more remarkable than half of 
the young women who make our lives pleas- 
ant or miserable. I doubt much if in any 
assemblage of such, at kirk or market, you 
would have noted Anne at all, or found her 
special advantages out. 
Mrs. Hartley had two sons, Francis and 
John — the one a barrister, the other in a 
public office. 
John, the public office man, was like most 
other young men in public offices, and scarce- 
ly claimed separate notice. The barrister 
was the pride of the house. He had gone 
through a very successful career both at 
school and college; had made a successful 
appearance at the bar very early, and bade 
fair to be a successful man. The successful- 
ness of success was already apparent in him. 
The further he advanced, the greater be- 
came his rate of progress, and the more 
rapidly he continued to go on. He was 
only about thirty, and he was already known 
as a rising man. The Hartleys were all 
proud of him, though I am not sure that his 
sisters, at least, were as fond of him as they 
were proud. Sisters judge impartially in 
many cases, and have many little data to go 
upon unknown to the outside world. Letty 
and Susan had an impression of his charac- 
ter which they would not for the world have 
put into words, but which they communi- 
cated to each other by little side remarks, 
saying: “It is just like him,” when any 
incident happened which confirmed their 
theory. This theory was that Francis was 
selfish. He liked his own way (as who does 
not ?), and when his way came into collision 
with other people’s way, never yielded or 
compromised matters ; so at least his sisters 
said. But Anne held no such doctrine. 
Since her earliest capabilities of use began 
she had been the little vassal first, and re- 
cently the champion and defender of Fran- 
cis ; and he was always good to her. That 
is to say, he accepted her services with much 
kindness, and spoke to her pleasantly, and 
sometimes even would applaud her gentle 
qualities, especially in points where she dif- 
fered from his sisters. I do not know if he 
had ever in his life exercised himself to pro- 
cure a pleasure, or done anything else in 
Anne’s behalf which cost him trouble. But 
he was always “nice” o his cousin, and 
she thought immensely f this easy kindness. 
She was ready to fetch him whatever he 
wanted — to study his looks, to talk or be 
silent, according as the humor pleased him. 
And she could divine his humors much 
more quickly than even his mother could; 
for, indeed, Mrs. Hartley was not one of 
the mothers who sacrifice or annihilate them- 
selves for their children. She was a very 
good mother — very careful of them and 
very anxious for their welfare; but withal 
she retained her own personality and inde- 
pendence. She was very good and indul- 
gent to Francis, but she did not search his 
looks, and follow tremulously every shade 
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