I wait in confidence.
If things be not as we think, they will both arouse and satisfy a better
_think_, making us glad they are not as we expected.
CHAPTER VI.
I LOSE MYSELF.
I have one incident more to relate ere my narrative begins to flow from a
quite clear memory.
I was by no means a small bookworm, neither spent all my time in the
enchanted ground of my uncle's study. It is true I loved the house, and
often felt like a burrowing animal that would rather not leave its hole;
but occasionally even at such times would suddenly wake the passion for
the open air: I must get into it or die! I was well known in the
farmyard, not to the men only, but to the animals also. In the absence of
human playfellows, they did much to keep me from selfishness. But far
beyond it I took no unfrequent flight--always alone. Neither Martha nor
my uncle ever seemed to think I needed looking after; and I am not aware
that I should have gained anything by it. I speak for myself; I have no
theories about the bringing up of children. I went where and when I
pleased, as little challenged as my uncle himself. Like him, I took now
and then a long ramble over the moor, fearing nothing, and knowing
nothing to fear. I went sometimes where it seemed as if human foot could
never have trod before, so wild and waste was the prospect, so unknown it
somehow looked.
Pages:
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46