Sincerely Mrs Murchison would have been sorry for the
man if he had arrived, but he had not arrived. Advena
justified her existence by taking the university course
for women at Toronto, and afterward teaching the English
branches to the junior forms in the Collegiate Institute,
which placed her arbitrarily outside the sphere of domestic
criticism. Mrs Murchison was thankful to have her there
--outside--where little more could reasonably be expected
of her than that she should be down in time for breakfast.
It is so irritating to be justified in expecting more
than seems likely to come. Mrs Murchison's ideas circulated
strictly in the orbit of equity and reason; she expected
nothing from anybody that she did not expect from herself;
indeed, she would spare others in far larger proportion.
But the sense of obligation which led her to offer herself
up to the last volt of her energy made her miserable when
she considered that she was not fairly done by in return.
Pressed down and running over were the services she
offered to the general good, and it was on the ground of
the merest justice that she required from her daughters
"some sort of interest" in domestic affairs. From her
eldest she got no sort of interest, and it was like the
removal of a grievance from the hearth when Advena took
up employment which ranged her definitely beyond the
necessity of being of any earthly use in the house.
Advena's occupation to some extent absorbed her
shortcomings, which was much better than having to
attribute them to her being naturally "through-other,"
or naturally clever, according to the bias of the moment.
Mrs Murchison no longer excused or complained of her