6/14 Maria, to use her own expression, never recovered it. From the horrid day when Susan became Lady Northlake, Maria became a serious woman. All her earthly interests centred now in the cultivation of her intellect. She started on that glorious career, which associated her with the march of science. In only a year afterwards--as an example of the progress which a resolute woman can make--she was familiar with zoophyte fossils, and had succeeded in dissecting the nervous system of a bee. |