LESBIA NEWMAN.
CHAPTER I.
The Inmates of Dulham Vicarage.
‘Really, my dear brother, I can’t at all agree with you; I don’t think you are doing your duty either by society or by your niece herself. A girl who is brought up so differently from other girls can only end in being a martyr, besides causing a great deal of annoyance and discomfort to those about her.’
‘Well, Jane,’ replied the person addressed, ‘since we can’t agree, we had better agree to differ; in any case, I shall just go on as I have done with Lesbia; that is my duty to society, and it must be held to outweigh individual prejudices. As for making a martyr of my niece, would that be anything new? Are not all women, more or less, made, or make themselves, martyrs to hollow idols? If my influence should result in making one of Lesbia, it shall at all events be for something worth the martyrdom. She shall not be a martyr to ‘weakervesselism,’ as you and others are.’
‘Hallo! what’s that about martyrs?’ exclaimed a young
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