He continued: "It is the propensity to please others, whether by doing so I act well
or ill!"
"Mr. Brudenell!" exclaimed Hannah, in a shocked voice.
"Yes, the pain I feel in seeing others suffer, the delight I have in
seeing them enjoy, often leads--leads me to sacrifice not only my own
personal interests, but the principles of truth and justice!"
"Oh, Mr. Brudenell!"
"It is so, Hannah! And one signal instance of such a sacrifice at once
of myself and of the right has loaded my life with endless regret!
However, I am ungenerous to say this; for a gift once given, even if it
is of that which one holds most precious in the world, should be
forgotten or at least not be grudged by the giver! Ah, Hannah--" He
stopped abruptly.
"Mr. Brudenell, you will excuse me for saying that I agree with you in
your reproach of yourself. That trait of which you speak is a weakness
which should be cured. I am but a poor country girl. But I have seen
enough to know that sensitive and sympathizing natures like your own are
always at the mercy of all around them. The honest and the generous take
no advantage of such; but the selfish and the calculating make a prey of
them! You call this weakness a propensity to please others! Mr.
Brudenell, seek to please the Lord and He will give you strength to
resist the spoilers," said Hannah gravely.
"Too late, too late, at least as far as this life is concerned, for I am
ruined, Hannah!"
"Ruined! Mr. Brudenell!"
"Ruined, Hannah!"
"Good Heaven! I hope you have not endorsed for anyone to the whole
extent of your fortune?"
"Ha, ha, ha! You make me laugh, Hannah! laugh in the very face of ruin,
to think that you should consider loss of fortune a subject of such
eternal regret as I told you my life was loaded with!"
"Oh, Mr. Brudenell, I have known you from childhood! I hope, I hope you
haven't gambled or--"
"Thank Heaven, no, Hannah! I have never gambled, nor drank, nor--in
fact, done anything of the sort!"
"You have not endorsed for anyone, nor gambled, nor drank, nor anything
of that sort, and yet you are ruined!"
"Ruined and wretched, Hannah! I do not exaggerate in saying so!"
"And yet you looked so happy!"
"Grasses grow and flowers bloom above burning volcanoes, Hannah."