The very sight of it would rest the fretful, hasty spirit; and I was
thankful indeed that when Emilia married, her mother still abode near
to us--I felt her like my guardian spirit.
My husband kept his post till my Lord Clarendon went out and the
Cabal came in, and then, not liking those he had to work with, he
gave up his office, and we retired into the country, while our
children were still young enough to grow up in the love to Walwyn
that I had always felt.
CHAPTER XXXIV
ANNORA'S HOME
It seemed as if I had scarcely time to understand what was the
meaning of my party with my beloved brother and sister. My poor
Cecile was still so ill that I could hardly attend to anything else,
and when I returned in the morning I found that, missing me, she had
fallen into another crisis, and that all the danger was renewed.
However, the poor frail creature lived, little as she cared to do so,
except to pray for the soul of the husband to whom her whole being
had been given, ever since they had wedded her to him as a mere
child. It was well that I had her to attend to, or my home would have
seemed very desolate to me, empty as it now was of my brother and
sister, and with my mother spending her time between her Queen and
her favourite convent. Happily for me there was no longer required
to be in waiting, but was free to finish his education. Indeed, I
believe the Queen had found out that Gaspard had put into King
Louis's head certain strange ideas about sovereigns and subjects, so
that she was glad to keep him at a distance.
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