Claudia Author:A. L. O. E. Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. LOOK-DECEIT AND IIEAKT-DECEIT. HAT a singular character this is, and how glad I am that she has come to our quiet corner of the world," t... more »hought Emma, while Claudia was giving her attention to carving a delicate boiled chicken. Such a dainty little dish never appeared at the vicar's table, where, as eight hungry mouths were always to be filled, quantity rather than quality was considered in choosing the fare. Emma silently glanced at the countenance of Claudia, with so much intelligence in the eyes, thought on the brow, decision on the lip, and wondered whether Miss Hartswood would have been a very different being had she been brought up in a hum-drum home, such as the vicarage appeared. If, instead of a clever lawyer to teach her to think and speak, and solitude to foster the habit of reflection, Claudia had had a sober, sensible mother, to set her to stitching and darning, and five noisy brothers who hated to see her witha book iu her hand, what would have been the result ? Characters are much formed by circumstances, but under no circumstances would Claudia Harts- wood have resembled Einma Holder. The latter, without the stimulus of necessity for exertion, would probably have sunk into a life of lazy ease, losing her health because she would have had little else to think of, and her spirits because she lacked energy to carve out occupation for herself. Claudia, on the other hand, as the vicar's daughter, would have eagerly plunged into parish work, and have rather exercised influence over her tribe of brothers than yielded to the petty tyranny of those whose wits were less keen than her own. Claudia would have been less theoretical but more practical than she was now; her mental powers would have been developed in a different direction. The one girl ne...« less