True, Darvil had taught her nothing, nor permitted her to be taught anything; but that mere ignorance would have been no preservation to a quick, observant mind.

It was the bluntness of the senses themselves that operated tike an armour between her mind and the vile things around her.

It was the rough, dull covering of the chrysalis, framed to bear rude contact and biting weather, that the butterfly might break forth, winged and glorious, in due season.

Had Alice been a quick child, Alice would have probably grown up a depraved and dissolute woman; but she comprehended, she understood little or nothing, till she found an inspirer in that affection which inspires both beast and man; which makes the dog (in his natural state one of the meanest of the savage race) a companion, a guardian, a protector, and raises Instinct half-way to the height of Reason.
The banker had a strong regard for Alice; and when he reached home, he heard with great pain that she was in a high state of fever.

She remained beneath his roof that night, and the elderly gentlewoman, his relation and _gouvernante_, attended her.