This time it was during a turn taken in the garden, and not on
the sofa--which was reserved for supreme occasions.
"You know, my dearest boy," she said to him, "that papa" (she always
called Theobald "papa" when talking to Ernest) "is so anxious you should
not go into the Church blindly, and without fully realising the
difficulties of a clergyman's position. He has considered all of them
himself, and has been shown how small they are, when they are faced
boldly, but he wishes you, too, to feel them as strongly and completely
as possible before committing yourself to irrevocable vows, so that you
may never, never have to regret the step you will have taken."
This was the first time Ernest had heard that there were any
difficulties, and he not unnaturally enquired in a vague way after their
nature.
"That, my dear boy," rejoined Christina, "is a question which I am not
fitted to enter upon either by nature or education. I might easily
unsettle your mind without being able to settle it again. Oh, no! Such
questions are far better avoided by women, and, I should have thought, by
men, but papa wished me to speak to you upon the subject, so that there
might be no mistake hereafter, and I have done so.
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