CHAPTER XXXIV 492
Diana and Mary before next Thursday; and my ambition is to give them a beau-ideal of a welcome when they come."
St. John smiled slightly: still he was dissatisfied.
" It is all very well for the present," said he; " but seriously, I trust that when the first flush of vivacity is over, you will look a little higher than domestic endearments and household joys."
" The best things the world has!" I interrupted.
" No, Jane, no: this world is not the scene of fruition; do not attempt to make it so: nor of rest; do not turn slothful."
" I mean, on the contrary, to be busy."
" Jane, I excuse you for the present: two months ' grace I allow you for the full enjoyment of your new position, and for pleasing yourself with this late-found charm of relationship; but THEN, I hope you will begin to look beyond Moor House and Morton, and sisterly society, and the selfish calm and sensual comfort of civilised affluence. I hope your energies will then once more trouble you with their strength."
I looked at him with surprise. " St. John," I said, " I think you are almost wicked to talk so. I am disposed to be as content as a queen, and you try to stir me up to restlessness! To what end?"
" To the end of turning to profit the talents which God has committed to your keeping; and of which He will surely one day demand a strict account. Jane, I shall watch you closely and anxiously-- I warn you of that. And try to restrain the disproportionate fervour with which you throw yourself into commonplace home pleasures. Don ' t cling so tenaciously to ties of the flesh; save your constancy and ardour for an adequate cause; forbear to waste them on trite transient objects. Do you hear, Jane?"