against the too competent governess. The
affection of her pupils, which was her principal pleasure during her
residence in Ireland, thus became in the end a misfortune.

A more prolific source of trouble to her was, strangely enough, her
interest in them. Lady Kingsborough had very positive ideas upon the
subject of her children's education, and by insisting upon adherence to
them she made Mary's task doubly hard. Had she not been interfered with,
her position would not have been so unpleasant. She could put her whole
soul into her work, whatever it might be, and find in its success one of
her chief joys. She wished to do her utmost for Margaret and her sisters,
but this was impossible, since she knew the system Lady Kingsborough
exacted to be vicious. The latter cared more for a show of knowledge than
for knowledge itself, and laid the greatest stress upon the acquirement
of accomplishments. This was not in accord with Mary's theories, who
prized reality and not appearances. A less conscientious woman might have
contented herself with the thought that she was carrying out the wishes
of her employer. But Mary could not quiet her scruples in this way. She
was tormented by the sense of duty but half fulfilled. She realized, by
her own sad experience, how much depends upon the training received in
childhood, and yet she was powerless to bring up her pupils in the way
she knew to be best. She had, besides, constantly before her in Lady
Kingsborough and her sisters a, to her, melancholy example of the result
of the methods she was asked to adopt. They had been carefully taught
many different languages and much history, but had been as carefully
instilled with the idea that their studies were but means to social
success and to a brilliant marriage. The consequence was that their
education, despite its thoroughness, had made them puppets, self-interest
being the wire which moved them. She did not want this to be the fate of
her pupils, but she could see no escape for them.

In addition to her honest anxiety for their future, she must have been
worried by the certainty that, if she remained with them, she would be
held responsible for their character and conduct in after-life. Though
she had charge of them only for a year, this eventually proved to be the
case. Margaret's reputation as Lady Mountcashel was not wholly unsullied,
and when it was remembered that she had, at one time, been under the
influence of Mary Wollstonecraft