s going to leave. I did not think it
had been in their phlegmatic nature . . . I do not know whether you feel
as I do, but there are times now when it appears to me as if all my ideas
and feelings, except a few friendships and affections, are changed from
what they used to be; something in me, which used to be enthusiasm, is
tamed down and broken. I have fewer illusions; what I wish for now is
active exertion--a stake in life. Haworth seems such a lonely, quiet
spot, buried away from the world. I no longer regard myself as
young--indeed, I shall soon be twenty-eight; and it seems as if I ought
to be working and braving the rough realities of the world, as other
people do. It is, however, my duty to restrain this feeling at present,
and I will endeavour to do so."

Of course her absent sister and brother obtained a holiday to welcome her
return home, and in a few weeks she was spared to pay a visit to her
friend at B. But she was far from well or strong, and the short journey
of fourteen miles seems to have fatigued her greatly.

Soon after she came back to Haworth, in a letter to one of the household
in which she had been staying, there occurs this passage:--"Our poor
little cat has been ill two days, and is just dead. It is piteous to see
even an animal lying lifeless. Emily is sorry." These few words relate
to points in the characters of the two sisters, which I must dwell upon a
little. Charlotte was more than commonly tender in her treatment of all
dumb creatures, and they, with that fine instinct so often noticed, were
invariably attracted towards her. The deep and exaggerated consciousness
of her personal defects--the constitutional absence of hope, which made
her slow to trust in human affection, and, consequently, slow to respond
to any manifestation of it--made her manner shy and constrained to men
and women, and even to children. We have seen something of this
trembling distrust of her own capability of inspiring affection, in the
grateful surprise she expresses at the regret felt by her Belgian pupils
at her departure. But not merely were her actions kind, her words and
tones were ever gentle and caressing, towards animals: and she quickly
noticed the least want of care or tenderness on the part of others
towards any poor brute creature. The readers of "Shirley" may remember
that it is one of the tests which the heroine applies to her lover.

"Do you know what soothsayers I would consult?" .