She was too childish
and simple for her imagination to rove into questions about her
unknown father; for a long while it did not even occur to her that she
must have had a father; and the first time that the idea of her mother
having had a husband presented itself to her, was when Silas showed
her the wedding-ring which had been taken from the wasted finger,
and had been carefully preserved by him in a little lacquered box
shaped like a shoe. He delivered this box into Eppie's charge when she
had grown up, and she often opened it to look at the ring; but still
she thought hardly at all about the father to whom it was the
symbol. Had she not a father very close to her, who loved her better
than any real fathers in the village seemed to love their daughters?
On the contrary, who her mother was, and how she came to die in that
forlornness, were questions that often pressed on Eppie's mind. Her
knowledge of Mrs Winthrop, who was her nearest friend next to Silas,
made her feel that a mother must be very precious; and she had again
and again asked Silas to tell her how her mother looked, whom she
was like, and how he had found her against the furze bush, led towards
it by the little footsteps and the outstretched arms. The furze bush
was there still; and this afternoon, when Eppie came out with Silas
into the sunshine, it was the first object that arrested her eyes
and thoughts.
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