So Jessie had to console herself by agreeing with her mother
that Johnny looked much more manly, yes, and had an air and style
about him which both admired very much, though, while Mrs. Brownlow
deemed it the true outcome of the admixture of Friar and Brownlow,
Jessie gave more credit to Eton and Belforest, for Jessie was really
fond of her aunt, to whom she had owed most of her extra gaieties.
Moreover, Mrs. Brownlow, though often chafing secretly, had the power
of reticence, and would not set the minds of her children against one
who was always doing them kindnesses. True, these favours were more
than she could easily brook, since her pride and independence were
not, like her husband's, tempered by warm affection. It was his
doing that the expenses of Johnny's education had been accepted, and
that Esther and Ellen had been sent by their aunt to a good school;
thus gratitude, unpalatable though it were, prevented unguarded
censure. She abstained from much; and as there was no quick
intuition in the family, even Jessie, the most in her confidence,
only vaguely knew that mamma thought Aunt Caroline too clever and
fly-away; but mamma was grave and wise, and it was very nice to have
an aunt who was young and lively, and always had pleasant things
going on in her house.
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