All these letters were pleasant. But
she also received a number of letters of a very doubtful nature, which
included begging letters and applications requesting to see her from
quacks and charlatans of different kinds, who by professing great
admiration for her husband and veneration for his memory, thought they
would find in Lady Burton an easy prey. In this they were mistaken.
Although generous and open-hearted as the day, she always found out
charlatans in the long run. She used to say she "liked to give them
rope enough." Unfortunately, though, it must be admitted that Lady
Burton had the defects of her qualities. Absolutely truthful herself,
she was the last in the world to suspect double-dealing in others, and
the result was that she sometimes misplaced her confidence, and put her
trust in the wrong people. This led her into difficulties which she
would otherwise have avoided.
The publication of the Life of her husband seemed also to arouse a
number of dormant animosities, and it led, among other things, to a
large increase in the number of abusive and insulting letters which
she received from anonymous writers, chiefly with regard to her burning
of _The Scented Garden_. They gave her great pain and annoyance. But
many approved of her action, and among others who wrote to her a generous
letter of sympathy was Lady Guendolen Ramsden, the daughter of her old
friends the Duke and Duchess of Somerset.
Pages:
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397