B. upon it.
She had peeped in and read "Magnum Bonum" within the lid. All day
the idea had haunted her, that there lay the secret, in the charge of
her little thoughtless mother, who, ignorant of its true value, and
deterred by uncomprehended words and weak scruples, was withholding
it from the world, and depriving her own family, and what was worst
of all, her daughter, of the chances of becoming illustrious.
"I am his daughter as much as hers," thought she. "Why should she
deprive me of my inheritance?"
Certainly Janet had been told that the great arcanum could not be
dealt with by a woman; but this she did not implicitly believe, and
she was in consequence the more curious to discover what it really
was, and whether it was reasonable to sacrifice the best years of her
life to preparing for it. The supposed unfairness of her exclusion
seemed to her to justify the act, and thus it was that she had stolen
to the davenport when she supposed that her little sister would be
asleep, and finding it impossible to attend or understand with
Babie's great brown eyes lamping on her, she had carried off the
book.
She had been reading it even till the morning light had surprised
her, and had been able to perceive the general drift, though she had
leaped over the intermediate steps.
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