The
more intimately I knew them the higher did they rise in my
estimation. A purer, sweeter, truer-hearted girl than Blanche I had
never seen. There was an artlessness and innocence about her but
rarely met with in young ladies of her age. Especially was she free
from that worldliness and levity which so often mars young
maidenhood. Her mind was well stored and cultivated, and she was
beginning to use her mental treasures in a way that interested you,
and made you listen with pleased attention when she spoke on even
common-place subjects. Her manners had in them a grace and dignity
that was very attractive. As she advanced towards health her
deportment took on an easy, confiding air, as if she looked upon me
as a true friend. Her smile, whenever I appeared, broke over her
gentle face like a gleam of sunshine.
Mrs. Montgomery's manner towards me was distinguished by the same
frankness that marked her daughter's deportment. The stately air
that struck me in the beginning I no longer observed. If it existed,
my eyes saw it differently. At her request, when her mind was
sufficiently at ease about her daughter to busy itself with the
common affairs of life, I brought Judge Bigelow to see her, and she
placed her business matters in his hands.
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