He
was passionately fond of Gaspard, and let the child domineer over him
in a way that sometimes shocked me.
Thus he was ready to believe what I told him of his niece, and
assured me I might keep her with me as long as I wished, if the
Countess, her mother-in-law, would consent. The first thing we did
together was that I took her to see her children. The boy was at a
farm not very far off; he was seven months old, and a fine healthy
infant, though not as clean as I could have wished; but then Tryphena
and I had been looked on as barbarians, who would certainly be the
death of Gaspard, because we washed him all over every evening, and
let him use his legs and arms. Cecile was enchanted; she saw an
extraordinary resemblance between her son and his father; and hugged
the little form like one who had been famished.
Our search for the little Armantine was less prosperous. Cecile
could not ride, nor could even walk a quarter of a mile without
nearly dying of fatigue; nay, the jolting of the coach as we drove
along the road would have been insupportable to her but for her
longing to see her little one. We drove till it was impossible to
get the coach any farther, and still the farm was only just in sight.
I jumped out and said I would bring the child to her, and I went up
between the hedges with two lackeys behind me, till I came to a
farmyard, where three or four children, muddy up to the very eyes,
were quarrelling and playing with the water of a stagnant pool.
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