owever interesting, interfered
with the goodness of the bread, which was always light and excellent.
Books were, indeed, a very common sight in that kitchen; the girls were
taught by their father theoretically, and by their aunt, practically,
that to take an active part in all household work was, in their position,
woman's simple duty; but in their careful employment of time, they found
many an odd five minutes for reading while watching the cakes, and
managed the union of two kinds of employment better than King Alfred.

Charlotte's life at Miss W---'s was a very happy one, until her health
failed. She sincerely loved and respected the former schoolmistress, to
whom she was now become both companion and friend. The girls were hardly
strangers to her, some of them being younger sisters of those who had
been her own playmates. Though the duties of the day might be tedious
and monotonous, there were always two or three happy hours to look
forward to in the evening, when she and Miss W--- sat together--sometimes
late into the night--and had quiet pleasant conversations, or pauses of
silence as agreeable, because each felt that as soon as a thought or
remark occurred which they wished to express, there was an intelligent
companion ready to sympathise, and yet they were not compelled to "make
talk."

Miss W--- was always anxious to afford Miss Bronte every opportunity of
recreation in her power; but the difficulty often was to persuade her to
avail herself of the invitations which came, urging her to spend Saturday
and Sunday with "E." and "Mary," in their respective homes, that lay
within the distance of a walk. She was too apt to consider, that
allowing herself a holiday was a dereliction of duty, and to refuse
herself the necessary change, from something of an over-ascetic spirit,
betokening a loss of healthy balance in either body or mind. Indeed, it
is clear that such was the case, from a passage, referring to this time,
in the letter of "Mary" from which I have before given extracts.

"Three years after--" (the period when they were at school together)--"I
heard that she had gone as teacher to Miss W---'s. I went to see her,
and asked how she could give so much for so little money, when she could
live without it. She owned that, after clothing herself and Anne, there
was nothing left, though she had hoped to be able to save something. She
confessed it was not brilliant, but what could she do? I had nothing to