But she noticed at times with a shy shrinking that
some few of the girls had heard vague rumors about her mother as a
most equivocal person, who didn't accept all the current
superstitions, and were curious to ask her questions as to her
family and antecedents. Crimson with shame, Dolly parried such
enquiries as best she could; but she longed all the more herself to
pierce this dim mystery. Was it a runaway match?--with the groom,
perhaps, or the footman? Only the natural shamefacedness of a
budding girl in prying into her mother's most domestic secrets
prevented Dolores from asking Herminia some day point-blank all
about it.
But she was gradually becoming aware that some strange atmosphere
of doubt surrounded her birth and her mother's history. It filled
her with sensitive fears and self-conscious hesitations.
And if the truth must be told, Dolly never really returned her
mother's profound affection. It is often so. The love which
parents lavish upon their children, the children repay, not to
parents themselves, but to the next generation.
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