hing which he proposed, she would be trusting him
with her very soul.

Ludovic said a word to her about the house, and Tetchen said many
words. When Linda expressed an opinion, that though the house might
not belong to her aunt legally, it was or ought to be her aunt's
property in point of honour, Tetchen only laughed at her. "Don't
let her bother you about Peter then, if she chooses to live here on
favour," said Tetchen. As Linda came to think of it, it did appear
hard to her that she should be tormented about Peter Steinmarc in her
own house. She was not Madame Staubach's child, nor her slave; nor,
indeed, was she of childish age. Gradually the idea grew upon her
that she might assert her right to free herself from the tyranny to
which she was made subject. But there was always joined to this a
consciousness, that though, according to the laws of the world, she
might assert her right, and claim her property, and acknowledge to
everybody her love to Ludovic Valcarm, she could do none of these
things in accordance with the laws of God. She had become subject to
her aunt by the circumstances of her life, as though her aunt were in
fact her parent, and the fifth commandment was as binding on her as
though she were in truth the daughter of the guardian who had had her
in charge since her infancy. Once she said a word to her aunt about
the house, and was struck with horror by the manner in which Madame
Staubach had answered her. She had simply said that, as the house was
partly hers, she had thought that she might suggest the expediency
of getting another lodger in place of Peter Steinmarc. But Madame
Staubach had arisen from her chair and had threatened to go at once
out into the street,--"bare, naked, and destitute," as she expressed
herself. "If you ever tell me again," said Madame Staubach, "that the
house is yours, I will never eat another meal beneath your father's
roof." Linda, shocked at her own wickedness, had fallen at her aunt's
knees, and promised that she would never again be guilty of such
wickedness. And as she reflected on what she had done, she did
believe herself to have been very mean and very wicked. She had known
all her life that, though the house was hers to live in, it was
subject to the guidance of her aunt; and so had she been subject till
she had grown to be a woman. She could not quite understand that such
subjection for the whole term of her life need be a duty to her; but
when was the term of