Chapter 14.10 - Shirley

At present, I am no patrician, nor do I regard the poor around me as plebeians. But if once they violently wrong me or mine, and then presume to dictate to us, I shall quite forget pity for their wretchedness and respect for their poverty, in scorn of their ignorance and wrath at their incidents. Shirley, how your eyes flash! Because my soul burns. Would you, any more than me, let Robert be borne down by numbers? If I had your power to aid Robert, I would use it, as you mean to use it. If I could be such a friend to him as you can be, I would stand by him, as you mean to stand by him, till death. And now, Lena, though your eyes don't flash, they glow. You drop your lids, but I saw a kindled spark. However, it is not yet come to fighting. What I want to do is to prevent mischief. I cannot forget, either day or night, that these embittered feelings of the poor against the rich have been generated in suffering. They would neither hate nor envy us, if they did not deem us so much happier than themselves. To allay this suffering, and thereby lessen this hate, let me, out of my abundance, give abundantly. And that the donations may go further, let it be made wisely. To that intent, we must introduce some dear, calm, practical sense into our counsels. So go and fetch Miss Ainley." Without another word, Caroline put on her bonnet and departed. It may, perhaps, appear strange, that neither she nor Shirley thought of consulting Mrs. Pryor on their scheme, but they were wise in abstaining. To have consulted her, and this they knew by instinct, would only have been to involve her in painful embarrassment. She was far better informed, better read, a deeper thinker than Miss Ainley, but, of administrative energy, of executive activity, she had none.