Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin

couldn't angels? I wondered if Helen Burns could be one of those heavenly beings.
    "You say you have faults, Helen. What are they? To me you seem very good."
    "Then learn not to judge by appearances. I am, as Miss Scatcherd said, slatternly, as well as careless, forgetful, and prone to daydreams. When I should be listening to Miss Scatcherd and collecting all she says, often I lose the very sound of her voice and fall into a sort of dream that I am in Northumberland, and the noises I hear round me are the bubbling of a little brook that runs through Deepden, near our house. This is all very provoking to Miss Scatcherd, who is naturally neat, punctual, and particular."
    "And cross and cruel," I added aloud, and possibly a demon, I thought to myself.
    Helen Burns kept silent at my accusation.
    "Is Miss Temple as severe to you as Miss Scatcherd?" I asked, unable to fathom that one who looked so pure and right as the lovely Miss Temple would allow Miss Scatcherd to be so abusive.
    At the utterance of Miss Temple's name, a soft smile flitted over Helen Burn's grave face. I breathed a sigh of relief. Miss Temple must be all that I assumed, and more.
    "Miss Temple is full of goodness. It pains her to be severe to anyone, even the worst in the school."
    "And when Miss Temple teaches, do your thoughts wander then?"
    "No, certainly, not often; because Miss Temple has generally something to say which is newer than my own reflections."
    "Well, then, with Miss Temple you are good?"
    "Yes, in a passive way. I make no effort. I follow as inclination guides me. There is no merit in such goodness."
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    "I believe there is a great deal. You are good to those who are good to you. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way. They would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard. I am sure we should--so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again."
    Helen smiled. "You will change your mind, I hope, when you grow older. As yet you are but a little untaught girl."
    A little untaught girl who had stood up to injustice. Helen Burns might be older and more schooled, but she truly had no idea of evil. Once I'd faced John Reed and gave free vent of my feelings to Mrs. Reed, my life had changed. I believed I was very much in the right.
    "I don't know if I will change." I thought of my uncle Reed's visitation. Would he have encouraged me to pursuit of defence against evil were it truly wrong?
    "It is not violence that best overcomes hate--nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury."
    "What then?" I challenged her. There was no walking away from a vampyre should one decide to make you his dinner. Only in fighting back did one stand a chance, and that most effectively when one knew appropriate techniques. Eventually, perhaps, I would find my people. I would train and learn.
    "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you."
    "Then I should love Mrs. Reed, which I cannot do; I should bless her son, John, which is impossible."
    In her turn, Helen Burns asked me to explain, and I poured out the tale of my sufferings and resentments, without actually mentioning that the Reeds were unnatural in any way. Though I had threatened Mrs. Reed with exposure, it was another thing to actually tell what she was to those who might not understand. I had already been accused of lying and deceit to Mr. Bokorhurst. The last
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    thing I wanted was to encourage such a reputation on myself. Besides, I had no idea how Helen would react to such news, or if she would believe me at all. In the rest, though, I had no restraint. Of their regular treatment of me at Gateshead, I spoke as I felt, bitter and truculent, without reserve or softening.
    Helen heard me patiently to the end. I expected she would then