"
Upon this there was the usual little demonstration of affection between
this young couple; and Charlotte praised her husband as the most
brilliant and admirable of men; after which pleasing flattery she
favoured him with a little interesting information about the baby's last
tooth, and the contumacious behaviour of the new housemaid, between whom
and Mrs. Woolper there had been a species of disagreement, which the
Yorkshirewoman described as a "standfurther."
Thus occupied in simple pleasures and simple cares, the lives of Mr. and
Mrs. Hawkehurst went on, untroubled by any fear of that crime-burdened
wretch whose image haunted the dreams and meditations of Ann Woolper. For
these two Mr. Sheldon was numbered among the dead. To Charlotte the
actual truth had never been revealed; but she had been, in the course of
time, given to understand that her stepfather had committed some
unpardonable sin, which must for ever separate him from herself and her
mother. She had been told as much as this, and had been told that she
must seek to know no more. To this she submitted without questioning.
"I am very sorry for him," she said, "and for mamma."
She concluded that the unpardonable offence must needs have been some sin
against her mother, some long-hidden infidelity brought suddenly to
light, with all the treachery and falsehood involved therein. She never
mentioned her stepfather after this but in her prayers the sinner was not
forgotten.
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