He told Lady Malice that at such times a
stranger always looked a devil to him. Hence the time was dull
for everybody--dullest, perhaps, for Sepia, who, as well as
Redmain, had a few things that required forgetting. It was no
wonder, then, that Hesper, after a fort-night of it, should think
once more of the young woman in the draper's shop of Testbridge.
One morning, in consequence, she ordered her brougham, and drove
to the town.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE MENIAL.
Things had been going nowise really better with Mary, though
there was now more lull and less storm around her. The position
was becoming less and less endurable to her, and she had as yet
no glimmer of a way out of it. Breath of genial air never blew in
the shop, except when this and that customer entered it. But how
dear the dull old chapel had grown! Not that she heard anything
more to her mind, or that she paid any more attention to what was
said; but the memory of her father filled the place, and when the
Bible was read, or some favorite hymn sung, he seemed to her
actually present. And might not love, she thought, even love to
her, be strong enough to bring him from the gracious freedom of
the new life, back to the house of bondage, to share it for an
hour with his daughter?
When Hesper entered, she was disappointed to see Mary so much
changed. But when, at sight of her, the pale face brightened, and
a faint, rosy flush overspread it from brow to chin, Mary was
herself again as Hesper had known her; and the radiance of her
own presence, reflected from Mary, cast a reflex of sunshine into
the February of Hesper's heart: had Mary known how long it was
since such a smile had lighted the face she so much admired, hers
would have flushed with a profounder pleasure.
Pages:
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274