Both Henry and Gertrude were very good-looking, and a mutual
attachment sprang up between them.
Instead of finding fault with the unfrequent visits of Henry,
Isabella always met him with a smile, and tried to make both him
and herself believe that business was the cause of his negligence.
When he was with her, she devoted every moment of her time to him,
and never failed to speak of the growth and increasing
intelligence of Clotelle.
The child had grown so large as to be able to follow its father on
his departure out to the road. But the impression made on Henry's
feelings by the devoted woman and her child was momentary. His
heart had grown hard, and his acts were guided by no fixed
principle. Henry and Gertrude had been married nearly two years
before Isabella knew anything of the event, and it was merely by
accident that she became acquainted with the facts.
One beautiful afternoon, when Isabella and Clotelle were picking
wild strawberries some two miles from their home, and near the
road-side, they observed a one-horse chaise driving past. The
mother turned her face from the carriage not wishing to be seen by
strangers, little dreaming that the chaise contained Henry and his
wife. The child, however, watched the chaise, and startled her
mother by screaming out at the top of her voice, "Papa! papa!" and
clapped her little hands for joy. The mother turned in haste to
look at the strangers, and her eyes encountered those of Henry's
pale and dejected countenance.
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