Blind Love

Her only domestic anxiety was caused by another failure in the health

of her maid.

The Doctor declared that medical help would be of no avail, while Rhoda

Bennet remained in London. In the country she had been born and bred,

and to the country she must return. Mr. Henley's large landed property,

on the north of London, happened to include a farm in the neighbourhood

of Muswell Hill. Wisely waiting for a favourable opportunity, Iris

alluded to the good qualities which had made Rhoda almost as much her

friend as her servant, and asked leave to remove the invalid to the

healthy air of the farm.

Her anxiety about the recovery of a servant so astonished Mr. Henley,

that he was hurried (as he afterwards declared) into granting his

daughter's request. After this concession, the necessary arrangements

were easily made. The influence of Iris won the goodwill of the farmer

and his wife; Rhoda, as an expert and willing needlewoman, being sure

of a welcome, for her own sake, in a family which included a number of

young children. Miss Henley had only to order her carriage, and to be

within reach of the farm. A week seldom passed without a meeting

between the mistress and the maid.

In the meantime, Mountjoy (absent in France) did not forget to write to

Iris.

His letters offered little hope of a speedy return. The doctors had not

concealed from him that his father's illness would end fatally; but

there were reserves of vital power still left, which might prolong the

struggle. Under these melancholy circumstances, he begged that Iris

would write to him. The oftener she could tell him of the little events

of her life at home, the more kindly she would brighten the days of a

dreary life.

Eager to show, even in a trifling matter, how gratefully she

appreciated Mountjoy's past kindness, Iris related the simple story of

her life at home, in weekly letters addressed to her good friend. After

telling Hugh (among other things) of Rhoda's establishment at the farm,

she had some unexpected results to relate, which had followed the

attempt to provide herself with a new maid.

Two young women had been successively engaged--each recommended, by the

lady whom she had last served, with that utter disregard of moral

obligation which appears to be shamelessly on the increase in the

England of our day. The first of the two maids, described as "rather

excitable," revealed infirmities of temper which suggested a lunatic

asylum as the only fit place for her. The second young woman, detected

in stealing eau-de-cologne, and using it (mixed with water) as an

intoxicating drink, claimed merciful construction of her misconduct, on

the ground that she had been misled by the example of her last

mistress.