第756页 / 共1118页

Thence it happened that she regarded things as good, which were

not really so, and that she used means which were calculated to

promote the very opposite of that which she intended; to this

perversion of her intellect may also be attributed the fact, that

she esteemed all measures to be lawful to her who was bent on the

performance of duty. In short, with good intentions, her moral

perceptions were in no small degree distorted. Hearing the

wonderful story of Lucy, she was seized with a desire to know

her, and immediately sent her carriage for the mother and

daughter. Lucy, having no desire to go, requested the tailor to

find some excuse for her; if they had been common people, who

desired to make her acquaintance, the tailor would willingly have

rendered her the service, but, under such circumstances, refusal

appeared to him a species of insult.