made ever second to my profession � a wife cannot do it and hold the same place as the wife who is a wife only i have drifted away from and has drifted away from me and it is all my fault � my fault there was no reason why could not have given up his wretched regiment particularly when he came into castle i told him so when he told me that he had asked you to give up the stage i said � i said it is preposterous to expect to give up when she is at the very top of the tree let her have five or ten years more and then she will be willing and glad to retire into private life you did cried indeed i did i think it would have been to expect you to give up such a great career such a great sphere of usefulness as the always said no my dear you know quite well that i was dead against your going on the stage when you first suggested it i was dead against it and perhaps i was not quite as kind deserted i to you as i ought to have been � no looking back i don t think that i was but what i said i said for your good and when it was shown to me that it was for your good and for s good as well as for yours and when you showed me how good and distinguished and virtuous an could be then i withdrew my objections absolutely and a loyal friend i have been to you from that day to this and intend to be as long as i am alive you are too good said oh you are too good there is only one thing i have to ask of you � don t make any difference to i entreat you don t let there be any difference to difference said mrs angrily and indeed there must and will be a difference will always be our son � nothing can alter that � but sons who run their course straight are not and ought not and never can be upon the same footing with their parents as the sons who have run their course we had no idea the and i that you and had ever been at we never have been cried what was this wholly unexpected wholly i was expecting him to spend his long leave here with me we had been intending � that is to say he had proposed � to go to paris and have a little trip together if i could arrange for my work to be taken as of course i could have done and would willingly and cheerfully have done and you knew nothing of what was going on not one word said not one single word as to a quarrel � why dear mrs believe me and i never had a quarrel in our lives we have held different opinions � as for instance he never liked my playing the part of prudence and we did not agree upon that point � but we never quarrelled i would not could not have quarrelled with heart and sword but that is gone by now what is done cannot be undone and nothing can give me back the place that i once had � nothing all i ask is that you make no difference or as little difference as you can with on account of this � of this new tie of his she is very young and i believe she is very beautiful i never saw her i dined with the the cried mrs what the of � with whom she lived she is her cousin didn t he tell you he told us nothing he told us nothing except that he had left you and formed a new tie with a girl called it is all that i know � i may say it is all that i wish to know oh no don t say that some day you will receive her at all events don t let me stand in the way of your doing so it will only make me more wretched i will never receive this person in my house cried mrs indignantly perhaps some day you won t fed like that i don t know how to put it i would like to keep your friendship but i would like you to make no difference to him it will be hard enough on them by and by � hard enough at this point the got up and walked to the window he is feeling it dreadfully said mrs in an aside to dreadfully i have never seen him so broken well my poor child my more than daughter we can never the and i thank you sufficiently for the kindness and consideration which you have shown to us in our hour of trouble may it come back to you a thousand fold we felt almost as if you would not be willing to receive us i have left the two girls at home they both wanted to ill news travels come they both begged and prayed to come but we told them that it would be better if we came to you first they naturally do not wish their with you to be broken and they both entreated me to say so and with her love begged me to tell you that if you could possibly bring yourself to attend her marriage as you had originally promised to do she hopes that you will not allow this new state of affairs to stand in the way thereof but cried will not be present at his sister s wedding said mrs with a severe dignity which made feel that this side of the affair was out of her hands and we would wish � would wish and s 