Going from place to place with her father, she had never been much at school, she said, and no one had ever compelled her to attend to the dry things.

But nothing could be more satisfactory than the way in which she now, with the help of the curate and his wife, set herself to learn; and until she should have gained such proficiency as would enable them to speak of her acquirements with confidence, they persuaded her, with no great difficulty, to continue their guest.
Wingfold, who had been a tutor in his day, was well qualified to assist her, and she learned with wonderful rapidity.
The point that most perplexed Wingfold with her was that, while very capable of perceiving and admiring the good, she was yet capable of admiring things of altogether inferior quality.

What did it mean?
Could it arise from an excess of productive faculty, not yet sufficiently differenced from the receptive?
One could imagine such an excess ready to seize the poorest molds, flow into them, and endow them for itself with attributed life and power.

He found also that she was familiar with the modes of thought and expression peculiar to a certain school of theology--embodiments from which, having done their good, and long commenced doing their evil, Truth had begun to withdraw itself, consuming as it withdrew.

For the moment the fire ceases to be the life of the bush in which it appears, the bush will begin to be consumed.