View source for Pride and Prudence CHAPTER 12.

'''Back to [[Pride and Prudence]]'''
----
<p>After calmly weighing the matter for a day or two, Mrs. Este came to the fixed conclusion that it would not be best to join her family with that of her sister. This determination caused her to abandon the idea of renting the house upon which her eye had been fixed. Nearly a week passed without her calling upon Mrs. Ashton. At the end of that time, Jane came to see her.<br><br>
    "Mother would like you to call upon her," Jane said, after spending some time with her aunt. "When can you come?"<br><br>
    "Not for a day or two," was the reply.<br><br>
    "She wants to see you <em>today </em>very much."<br><br>
    "I am sorry, but I shall not be able to see her sooner. I am very much engaged."<br><br>
    "It's wrong, I know," Jane said, after a little while, "for us to ask so much from you. I wanted mother to call and see you. But I can't get her out. I wish I could induce her to come here, I know it would do her good."<br><br>
    After Jane had gone away, Mrs. Este thought over what she had said, a good deal, and finally came to the conclusion, that it would be her duty to require her sister to reciprocate visits. All at once, she remembered what had not before occurred to her, that Mrs. Ashton had not <em>once </em>returned a visit. She had no doubt but that one cause of this, lay in the<em>pride </em>that prevented her showing herself in the street.<br><br>
    "I have encouraged these false notions long enough," she said to herself, after having thought over the matter for some time. "I ought to do it no longer."<br><br>
    With Mrs. Este to perceive a <em>true principle </em>was to act from it. One, two, three days, and even a week passed, and she did not go to see her sister. The effect upon Mrs. Ashton's mind was irritating.<br><br>
    "Why in the world doesn't your aunt Mary come?" she would say frequently to Jane. "It's very strange! when did she say she would be here?"<br><br>
    "In two or three days. She is very much occupied."<br><br>
    "Two or three days! Why didn't she come on the <em>same day </em>I sent for her. It's not <em>kind </em>in her! She knew I wished to see her, or I wouldn't have sent for her."<br><br>
    "Aunt Este is very much engaged, mother. Couldn't you go to see her?"<br><br>
    "<em>Me</em>, go to see her!" exclaimed Mrs. Ashton.<br><br>
    "Yes, mother. Why not?"<br><br>
    "Why not! You are really beside yourself."<br><br>
    "But I do think, mother, that we ought not to ask aunt Este to be coming here whenever we want to see her for anything. It is no more than <em>right </em>for us to call upon her. She has a large family to attend to, and I think it hardly just for us to ask her to neglect her own duties — to look after things that concern us."<br><br>
    "Do hush! will you!" retorted her mother, impatiently.<br><br>
    Jane shrank away from her side, and going to the little table upon which her work lay, took it up, and bent low down over it to conceal the <em>tears </em>which started forth unbidden. In the meantime, Mrs. Ashton sat, in <em>moody idleness</em>.<br><br>
    The reason why she wished to see her sister, was this: George had seen a neat house to rent for two hundred dollars per annum. It was in a pleasant neighborhood, and was large and more genteel in its appearance than houses at that price usually are. As soon as he had mentioned it to his mother, she became eager to have it rented, in order that the plan of living together, as proposed by her sister, might be entered upon. It was to converse with her upon this subject, that she had sent for Mrs. Este. No wonder, then, that she became impatient when the time of acceding to her wish, was put off for several days. When the third, fourth, and even the fifth day went by, she became really <em>indignant </em>at what she was pleased to call her sister's <em>unpardonable neglect</em>.<br><br>
    "Go and tell your aunt that I wish to see her!" she said peremptorily to Jane. "Tell her that I <em>must </em>see her today!"<br><br>
    "She knows that you wish to see her," Jane said. "If she does not wish to come, she ought to be left to do as she likes."<br><br>
    "Doesn't wish to come! Already she's so <em>puffed up</em>, I suppose, with <em>self-importance</em>, as to feel vastly <em>superior </em>to us. But I'll not put up with any of her arrogance. Go, and say to her, that if she intends coming to see me at all, she must come at once."<br><br>
    Jane remonstrated. But nothing would do. Her mother would not rest until she consented to call again upon her aunt. It was just one week from the day on which she had held her last interview with her, when she started out again to pay her a visit — but with reluctance. The true reason why Mrs. Este did not come had occurred to her, and caused her a sensation of <em>painful mortification</em>.<br><br>
    For a long time, her aunt had acted towards them the kindest, and most self-sacrificing part. In return for this, her mother had never evinced the slightest feeling of <em>gratitude</em>. She had, on the contrary, treated Mrs. Este more like an <em>inferior </em>than an equal. Sometimes she had hoped that nothing of this would be perceived by her generous-minded, kind-thinking aunt. But this hope was a feeble one. Her mother's feelings were too openly expressed in her conduct.<br><br>
    When Mrs. Este said that she could not see her mother for several days, she had an interior consciousness of the true reason. This was confirmed by the fact, that her aunt remained away even beyond the time named by herself as the earliest in which she could comply with the request of which Jane had been the bearer. No wonder, then, that she went to repeat her message with a deep feeling of <em>reluctance</em>, which increased at every step. This, however, changed into surprise and disappointment, when, on arriving at Mrs. Este's dwelling, she found it closed, and a <em>notice </em>up giving notice that the house was to rent. Inquiry at the adjoining residence, gave no clue to the place of removal. No one knew where Mrs. Este had gone. All that Jane could learn, was, that the family had moved out on the preceding day.<br><br>
    With feelings deeply saddened, she could hardly tell why, Jane slowly returned home.<br><br>
    "Well? what did your aunt say!" asked Mrs. Ashton, the moment her daughter came.<br><br>
    "I didn't see her," was the reply.<br><br>
    "Didn't see her! why not?"<br><br>
    "They have <em>moved</em>."<br><br>
    "Moved!" And Mrs. Ashton arose suddenly.<br><br>
    "Yes. Their house is closed, and has a notice on it."<br><br>
    "Moved! where have they moved to?"<br><br>
    "I could not learn. No one seemed to know."<br><br>
    "When did they move?"<br><br>
    "Yesterday."<br><br>
    "Too bad!" with this brief ejaculation, uttered in a tone of extreme mortification, Mrs. Ashton sank back in the chair from which she had arisen. All her hopes of getting into a<em>genteel house </em>at once vanished. The salary of her son was yet, only three hundred and fifty dollars. That, with what Jane could earn, made a sum barely sufficient to meet their most urgent needs. To have increased their rent much beyond what they at present paid, would have been folly — a folly that would not have been sanctioned by her children, however much Mrs. Ashton might feel inclined to commit it.
----
'''Back to [[Pride and Prudence]]'''