Читать книгу The Last Chance: A Tale of the Golden West онлайн

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But this advocate had no such feeling. She was not an advanced woman. Gifted with intelligence sufficiently clear to perceive the differing treatment of the sexes at the hands of society, she was yet fixed in the opinion that, by marriage and motherhood, a woman’s individuality has deeply, irrevocably merged in the welfare of the household. Thenceforth, her sphere was circumscribed. It was her duty, her privilege, to administer the limited monarchy of that small but vitally important kingdom. If for insufficient cause she wandered from it—if for vain pleasures, or intellectual pride, she neglected her realm—she deserved reprobation as an enemy of the State—deserved to forfeit the crown of her womanhood. So it was with a heart touched ssss1 with wifely sympathy, as well as anxiety for the safety of the family ark, that she began her inquiry.

‘Well, my dear, you seem to have “put on the pot,” as your friend Captain Maurice says—I daresay you have good reason—but we must look out to have something left pour tout potage besides. You put full faith in old Jack Waters; I have heard you speak of him.’