Their one idea, in connection with their
daughter, was to speculate on her beauty, and to turn her abilities to
profitable account.
The girls were starting in life under widely different conditions.
Blanche was going to India, to be governess in the household of a Judge,
under care of the Judge's wife. Anne was to wait at home until the
first opportunity offered of sending her cheaply to Milan. There, among
strangers, she was to be perfected in the actress's and the singer's
art; then to return to England, and make the fortune of her family on
the lyric stage.
Such were the prospects of the two as they sat together in the cabin of
the Indiaman locked fast in each other's arms, and crying bitterly.
The whispered farewell talk exchanged between them--exaggerated and
impulsive as girls' talk is apt to be--came honestly, in each case,
straight from the heart.
"Blanche! you may be married in India. Make your husband bring you back
to England."
"Anne! you may take a dislike to the stage. Come out to India if you
do."
"In England or out of England, married or not married, we will meet,
darling--if it's years hence--with all the old love between us; friends
who help each other, sisters who trust each other, for life! Vow it,
Blanche!"
"I vow it, Anne!"
"With all your heart and soul?"
"With all my heart and soul!"
The sails were spread to the wind, and the ship began to move in the
water.
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