My brother and her mother set her down between them, and I had nought
to do but to put in order the baby-house, till a great bell clanged
through the house, which was the signal for dinner. Madame van
Hunker was calmer by that time, and let Eustace hand her down, and
place her at the head of the table, where she had around her no less
than four families and two widows of our poor exiled Cavaliers and
clergy. We had not found ourselves in so English a world for years
past.
The hostess sat as one in a dream, doing her part like one moved by
wires, and eating scarce anything, while Eustace showed all his usual
courtliness of manner and grace. After dinner, he rested on a couch,
as was his wont, before going back, and Millicent drew me into her
chamber and wept on my neck, as she made me tell her all she had not
been able to learn from him.
He had been very tender with her, and tried to persuade her that it
was all for the best, and that there was happiness for them in the
having no one between them now. She, poor woman, would fain, as I
saw, have thrown aside all her houses and wealth to be his, and to
tend him, were it merely for a few weeks, and she felt as if her love
was strong enough to be his cure; but he had spoken of the cruel
selfishness of giving away her power of aiding all these our fellow-
countrymen in order that they two might come together for what he
knew would be so brief a time.
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