When I found it necessary to dismiss Mrs. Johnson, if
I would keep my affairs to myself, I thought of the old family
servants at Sunnybank. I knew they loved and pitied Nina, and were
very sensitive with regard to her misfortune. It touches Phillis'
pride to think her young mistress is crazy, and as hers is the
ruling mind, she keeps the others in subjection, though old Judy
came near disclosing the whole to you at one time, I believe. You
know her sad story now, but you do not know how like an iron
weight it hangs upon me, crushing me to the earth, wearing my life
away, and making me old before my time. See here," and lifting his
brown locks, he showed her many a line of silver. "If I loved Nina
Bernard, my burden would be easier to bear."
"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," interrupted Edith, "You surely do love her.
You cannot help loving her, and she so beautiful, so innocent."
"Yes," he answered, "as a brother loves an unfortunate sister. I
feel towards her, I think, as a mother does towards a helpless
child, a tender pity which prompts me to bear with her even when
she tries me almost beyond endurance.
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