with the care and readiness you showed earlier. I would not be a good mistress if I overlooked carelessness such as you have shown yourself capable of, or let you be satisfied with anything less than your own best. Our ways in this country are very different from those you have been accustomed to, but the laws governing character are the same everywhere, and nothing reveals our character more surely than the quality of our work."
Charlotte's eyes were fixed upon me with absorbed attention, and something very like amazement. It was the first time she had seen this side of me and I resolved to atone for the fact by making the acquaintance a thorough one.
I cast overboard for the time, all consideration for my own immediate future and addressed myself strictly to the subject in hand. I did not spare her. Every delinquency of the past weeks was reviewed in detail, but I tried to make it clear that the real failure and remedy for all of us lie not in circumstances but in ourselves; that our value to the world outside as well as to the broader issues of life, depend upon this inner relation and conduct,
