ABSTRACT
When she is working for the Murrays, however, she is surprised to find that Rosalie Murray, the eldest daughter, becomes very fond of her, at the same time as openly despising her for her lower social rank, with the effect that she fails to learn anything of significance:
Towards me, when I first came, she was cold and haughty, then insolent and overbearing; but, on a further acquaintance, she gradually laid aside her airs, and in time became as deeply attached to me as it was possible for her to be to one of my character and position: for she seldom lost sight, for above half an hour at a time, of the fact of my being a hireling and a poor curate's daughter. ( 61)
Agnes does her best to impart a sense of virtue to the flighty Rosalie, but to little avail, owing to Rosalie's conviction of Agnes's inferiority. Such snobbery on Rosalie's part may be because Mrs. Murray has hitherto neglected the moral education of her children. Indeed, when she instructs Agnes in her duties, she seems set to continue:
For the girls she seemed anxious only to render them as superficially attractive and showily accomplished as they could possibly be made, without present trouble or discomfort to themselves; and I was to act accordingly-to study and strive to amuse and oblige, instruct, refine, and polish, with the least possible exertion on their part, and no exercise of authority on mine. (60)
Mrs. Murray further compromises Agnes's authority by advising her that she is not to admonish the children herself, as it would violate the appropriate boundaries of her position: "Remember, on all occasions, when any of the young people do anything improper, if persuasion and gentle remonstrance will not do, let one of the others come and tell me; for I can speak to them more plainly than it would be proper for you to do" (61). Well might Agnes sound bitter when she observes that she is expected to educate the Murray children "with the least possible exertion on their part, and no exercise of authority on mine" (60). Thus the skills and knowledge that Agnes has been hired to impart, which she believes should give her
108 • Elizabeth Hale
sufficient authority over her charges, are rendered worthless because of her perceived social inferiority.
