Poor dear Tom! He had had his faults
certainly; but how well he would have managed a butler!
This touched the weak point of her good fortune to the core. It had
come too late to heap luxuries about dear "Mother"; too late to open
careers for the boys; too late to give mad frolics and girlish
gaieties to light hearts, such as she and Darling had once had. Ah, if
they could have enjoyed it together years ago!
There remained, however, Madam Liberality's old consolation: one can
be happy in the happiness of others. There were nephews and nieces to
be provided for, and a world so full of poor and struggling folk that
fifteen thousand a year would only go a little way. It was, perhaps,
useful that there had been so many articles lately in the papers about
begging letters, and impostors, and, the evil effects of the
indiscriminate charity of elderly ladies; but the remembrance of them
made Madam Liberality's head ache, and troubled her dreams that
night.
It was well that the next day was Sunday. Face to face with those
greater interests common to the rich and the poor, the living and the
dead, Madam Liberality grew calmer under her new cares and prospects.
It did not need that brief pause by her mother's grave to remind her
how little money can do for us: and the sight of other people
wholesomely recalled how much it can effect.
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