Horner forgot for to seal it, in his
hurry to be off."
"But you must not read letters that are not intended for you. You must
never try to read any letters that are not directed to you, even if they
be open before you."
"Please, may lady, I thought it were good for practice, all as one as a
book."
My lady looked bewildered as to what way she could farther explain to him
the laws of honour as regarded letters.
"You would not listen, I am sure," said she, "to anything you were not
intended to hear?"
He hesitated for a moment, partly because he did not fully comprehend the
question. My lady repeated it. The light of intelligence came into his
eager eyes, and I could see that he was not certain if he could tell the
truth.
"Please, my lady, I always hearken when I hear folk talking secrets; but
I mean no harm."
My poor lady sighed: she was not prepared to begin a long way off in
morals. Honour was, to her, second nature, and she had never tried to
find out on what principle its laws were based. So, telling the lad that
she wished to see Mr. Horner when he returned from Warwick, she dismissed
him with a despondent look; he, meanwhile, right glad to be out of the
awful gentleness of her presence.
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