DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22902#0057
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she yet retained a large share of her youthful coquetry ; for
still she dyed her lips black, and braided her hair (by no means
very profuse, and qualified with straggling locks of grey) with
all the flowers of the season. She had nobody on earth to care
for, nor had she indeed, strictly speaking, any who cared for her.
Just after the death of her good husband, she had sold her only
daughter to a rich foreign merchant, for ' her malicious neigh-
bors' often doubted her legitimacy, and thus tried to cast a
slur on the fair fame of Jovunnia. Her family, therefore, now
consisted of herself and a distant cousin whom she dotingly
loved. She supported herself and family with the sweat of her
brow, for she perseveringly carried on the profitable trade
of match-making, both legal and illegal, and though her con-
science did not exactly approve of the latter, yet she generally
preferred it, as being decidedly the more lucrative of the two,
for her principle partly was
" To follow right or wrong where money led."
Her following this last-mentioned trade, however, was not
very publicly known, for she entrusted the secret only to her
immediate friends and patrons ; nor was any one allowed
even to suspect her of her sinful avocation, for she was such
a furious termagant, that every body trembled at her approach,
and none could ever dare impeach her character.
On the contrary, her neighbors, as if to propitiate her good
will, generally called her " Aunt Jovunnia/' believing that
the addition of this loving epithet to her name might act as a
safe-guard against the malicious and quarrelsome disposition of
this greatest of vixens.
Moteeram had now reached his house accompanied by this
old woman, and having taken her into a private apartment,
thus opened the conversation :—
" Thou hast a fair chance of making thy fortune, Aunt,
if thou wouldst but persevere a little."
H
she yet retained a large share of her youthful coquetry ; for
still she dyed her lips black, and braided her hair (by no means
very profuse, and qualified with straggling locks of grey) with
all the flowers of the season. She had nobody on earth to care
for, nor had she indeed, strictly speaking, any who cared for her.
Just after the death of her good husband, she had sold her only
daughter to a rich foreign merchant, for ' her malicious neigh-
bors' often doubted her legitimacy, and thus tried to cast a
slur on the fair fame of Jovunnia. Her family, therefore, now
consisted of herself and a distant cousin whom she dotingly
loved. She supported herself and family with the sweat of her
brow, for she perseveringly carried on the profitable trade
of match-making, both legal and illegal, and though her con-
science did not exactly approve of the latter, yet she generally
preferred it, as being decidedly the more lucrative of the two,
for her principle partly was
" To follow right or wrong where money led."
Her following this last-mentioned trade, however, was not
very publicly known, for she entrusted the secret only to her
immediate friends and patrons ; nor was any one allowed
even to suspect her of her sinful avocation, for she was such
a furious termagant, that every body trembled at her approach,
and none could ever dare impeach her character.
On the contrary, her neighbors, as if to propitiate her good
will, generally called her " Aunt Jovunnia/' believing that
the addition of this loving epithet to her name might act as a
safe-guard against the malicious and quarrelsome disposition of
this greatest of vixens.
Moteeram had now reached his house accompanied by this
old woman, and having taken her into a private apartment,
thus opened the conversation :—
" Thou hast a fair chance of making thy fortune, Aunt,
if thou wouldst but persevere a little."
H