The Two Guardians

Charlotte Mary Yonge
A free download from http://www.dertz.in


The Two Guardians

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Two Guardians, by Charlotte
Mary Yonge Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to
check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or
redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: The Two Guardians
Author: Charlotte Mary Yonge
Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9926] [This file was first

posted on October 31, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE TWO
GUARDIANS ***

E-text prepared by Michigan University, Joshua Hutchinson, and the
Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE TWO GUARDIANS
or, HOME IN THIS WORLD
by CHARLOTTE MARY YONGE
THE AUTHOR OF "THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE," "HENRIETTA'S
WISH," "KENNETH," "HEARTSEASE," "THE CASTLE
BUILDERS," ETC.
1871

[Illustration: "Stay here, Marian! I don't care if all the world heard
me."]

PREFACE.
In putting forth another work, the Author is anxious to say a few words
on the design of these stories; not with a view to obviate criticism, but

in hopes of pointing to the moral, which has been thought not
sufficiently evident, perhaps because it has been desired to convey,
rather than directly inculcate it.
Throughout these tales the plan has been to present a picture of
ordinary life, with its small daily events, its pleasures, and its trials, so
as to draw out its capabilities of being turned to the best account. Great
events, such as befall only a few, are thus excluded, and in the hope of
helping to present a clue, by example, to the perplexities of daily life,
the incidents, which render a story exciting, have been sacrificed, and
the attempt has been to make the interest of the books depend on
character painting.
Each has been written with the wish to illustrate some principle which
may be called the key note. "Abbeychurch" is intended to show the
need of self-control and the evil of conceit in different manifestations;
according to the various characters, "Scenes and Characters" was meant
to exemplify the effects of being guided by mere feeling, set in contrast
with strict adherence to duty. In "Henrietta's Wish" the opposition is
between wilfulness and submission--filial submission as required, in
the young people, and that of which it is a commencement as well as a
type, as instanced in Mrs. Frederick Langford. The design of the
"Castle Builders" is to show the instability and dissatisfaction of mind
occasioned by the want of a practical, obedient course of daily life;
with an especial view to the consequences of not seeking strength and
assistance in the appointed means of grace.
And as the very opposite to Emmeline's feeble character, the heroine of
the present story is intended to set forth the manner in which a
Christian may contend with and conquer this world, living in it but not
of it, and rendering it a means of self-renunciation. It is therefore
purposely that the end presents no great event, and leaves Marian
unrecompensed save by the effects her consistent well doing has
produced on her companions. Any other compensation would render
her self-sacrifice incomplete, and make her no longer invisibly above
the world.
_October 14th_, 1852.

CHAPTER I.
"With fearless pride I say That she is healthful, fleet, and strong And
down the rocks will leap along, Like rivulets in May."
WORDSWORTH.
Along a beautiful Devonshire lane, with banks of rock overhung by tall
bowery hedges, rode a lively and merry pair, now laughing and talking,
now summoning by call or whistle the spaniel that ran by their side, or
careered through the fields within the hedge.
The younger was a maiden of about twelve years old, in a long black
and white plaid riding-skirt, over a pink gingham frock, and her dark
hair hidden beneath a little cap furnished with a long green veil, which
was allowed to stream behind her in the wind, instead of affording the
intended shelter to a complexion already a shade or two darkened by
the summer sun, but with
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 165
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.