ons.

"You, my dear Miss W---, know, full as well as I do, the value of
sisters' affection to each other; there is nothing like it in this
world, I believe, when they are nearly equal in age, and similar in
education, tastes, and sentiments. You ask about Branwell; he never
thinks of seeking employment, and I begin to fear that he has rendered
himself incapable of filling any respectable station in life; besides,
if money were at his disposal, he would use it only to his own injury;
the faculty of self-government is, I fear, almost destroyed in him.
You ask me if I do not think that men are strange beings? I do,
indeed. I have often thought so; and I think, too, that the mode of
bringing them up is strange: they are not sufficiently guarded from
temptation. Girls are protected as if they were something very frail
or silly indeed, while boys are turned loose on the world, as if they,
of all beings in existence, were the wisest and least liable to be led
astray. I am glad you like Broomsgrove, though, I dare say, there are
few places you would _not_ like, with Mrs. M. for a companion. I
always feel a peculiar satisfaction when I hear of your enjoying
yourself, because it proves that there really is such a thing as
retributive justice even in this world. You worked hard; you denied
yourself all pleasure, almost all relaxation, in your youth, and in
the prime of life; now you are free, and that while you have still, I
hope, many years of vigour and health in which you can enjoy freedom.
Besides, I have another and very egotistical motive for being pleased;
it seems that even 'a lone woman' can be happy, as well as cherished
wives and proud mothers. I am glad of that. I speculate much on the
existence of unmarried and never-to-be-married women now-a-days; and I
have already got to the point of considering that there is no more
respectable character on this earth than an unmarried woman, who makes
her own way through life quietly, perseveringly, without support of
husband or brother; and who, having attained the age of forty-five or
upwards, retains in her possession a well-regulated mind, a
disposition to enjoy simple pleasures, and fortitude to support
inevitably pains, sympathy with the sufferings of others, and
willingness to relieve want as far as her means extend."

During the time that the negotiation with Mes