That fortnight was spent by our guest in bed. As if to justify
Mademoiselle de Gringrimeau, she was no sooner under my care than she
had a sharp illness; but Tryphena, who had been so instructed by my
grandmother, Lady Walwyn, as to be more skilful than any doctor,
declared that it was in consequence of the long disregard of health
and strain of spirits, and so managed her that, though never strong,
she improved much in health, and therewith in looks. Beautiful she
could hardly be, as the world counts beauty, but to me her sweet,
tender, wistful expression made her countenance most lovable, and so
did her gentle unmurmuring humility. She sincerely believed that all
the cruel slights she underwent were the result of her own ugliness,
stupidity, and ignorance, and instead of blaming her husband, she
merely pitied him for being tied to her. As to grating that her
brother had been a better man than her husband, she would have
thought that high treason--the difference was only that her dear
Marguerite was so pretty, so clever, amiable, and well taught, that
she had won his heart.
In truth, I had outgrown the ungainliness of my girlhood, and, now
that it did not matter to any one, had become rather a handsome
woman, and it was of no use to tell her that I had been worse than
she, because there was so much more of me, when my dear young husband
gave me the whole of his honest heart.
To make herself, at least, less dull was her next desire.
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