However, as Veronica had never been
reckoned a beauty, and les beaux yeux de sa cassette had been
avowedly the attraction, we hoped that however it might be, there
would not be much difference in her lot.
We were to joint her at Hunkerslust to rid ourselves of infection,
while the house was purified from it. Before we went, Annora daily
brought little Emilia before the window that her mother might see the
little creature, who looked so grown and so full of health as to
rejoice our hearts. My brother and sister seemed to have made the
little maid much more animated than suited a Dutch child, for she
skipped, frolicked, and held up her wooden baby, making joyous
gestures in a way that astonished the solemn streets of Graavehage,
as the inhabitants call it. She was to come to us at Hunkerslust so
soon as the purification was complete; and then I was to go back to
my brother and sister, for as the spring advanced it was needful that
we should return to France, to our mother and my son.
It was April by the time Madame van Hunker was fit to move, and the
great coach came to the door to carry us out the three or four miles
into the country. I shall never forget the charm of leaving the
pest-house I had inhabited so long, and driving through the avenues,
all budding with fresh young foliage, and past gardens glowing with
the gayest of flowers, the canals making shining mirrors for tree,
windmill, bridge, and house, the broad smooth roads, and Milicent,
holding one of my hands, lay back on the cushions, deeply shrouded in
her widow's veil, unwilling to speak, but glad of the delight I could
not help feeling.
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