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第2章 你们代替不了他

　　Mr. Lloyd a second time produced his snuff-box.

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　　Scarcely dared I answer her; for I feared the next sentence mightbe rough. 'I will try.'

　　The roads were heavy, the night misty; my conductor let his horsewalk all the way, and the hour and a half extended, I verilybelieve, to two hours; at last he turned in his seat and said-

　　Traversing the long and matted gallery, I descended the slipperysteps of oak; then I gained the hall: I halted there a minute; Ilooked at some pictures on the walls (one, I remember, represented agrim man in a cuirass, and one a lady with powdered hair and a pearlnecklace), at a bronze lamp pendent from the ceiling, at a great clockwhose case was of oak curiously carved, and ebon black with time andrubbing. Everything appeared very stately and imposing to me; but thenI was so little accustomed to grandeur. The hall-door, which washalf of glass, stood open; I stepped over the threshold. It was a fineautumn morning; the early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves andstill green fields; advancing on to the lawn, I looked up and surveyedthe front of the mansion. It was three storeys high, of proportionsnot vast, though considerable: a gentleman's manor-house, not anobleman's seat: battlements round the top gave it a picturesque look.Its grey front stood out well from the background of a rookery,whose cawing te

　　I saw Mr. Lloyd smile and frown at the same time. 'Ghost! What, youare a baby after all! You are afraid of ghosts?'

　　'Jane, you are under a mistake: what is the matter with you? Why doyou tremble so violently? Would you like to drink some water?'

　　'Madam, allow me an instant. You are aware that my plan in bringingup these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury andindulgence, but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying. Shouldany little accidental disappointment of the appetite occur, such asthe spoiling of a meal, the under or the over dressing of a dish,the incident ought not to be neutralised by replacing with somethingmore delicate the comfort lost, thus pampering the body andobviating the aim of this institution; it ought to be improved tothe spiritual edification of the pupils, by encouraging them to evincefortitude under the temporary privation. A brief address on thoseoccasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructorwould take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of theprimitive Christians; to the torments of martyrs; to theexhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciplesto take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that manshall not live by bread alone, but by every word tha

　　'If I had anywhere else to go, I should be glad to leave it; butI can never get away from Gateshead till I am a woman.'