He talks of her by the hour, when he and I are
alone together. There was some coolness, you will remember, before
their parting; but 'twas not on his side, and his lady seemed to have
dropped it when he was taking leave of her; and three years of absence
have gone since then. So I am sure she has softened quite, and that
she desires his return as much as he longs for her presence. And
though he knows all this must be so, he keeps me ever reassuring and
persuading him it is. Ah, sir, if ever there was a man in love with
his wife!"
I made no reply. I had previously informed him of her good health, in
answer to a question whose eagerness came of his friendship for
Philip. I asked myself whether his unsuspecting mind was like to
perceive aught that would pain him for Philip's sake, in her
abandonment to the gaieties of the town, to the attentions of the
king's officers, to the business of making herself twice as charming
as the pedagogue had ever seen her.
We got it arranged that our prisoner should be put on parole and
quartered at Mr. Faringfield's house, where his welcome was indeed a
glad one. When Margaret heard of his presence in the town, she gave a
momentary start (it seemed to me a start of self-accusation) and paled
a little; but she composed herself, and asked in a sweet and gracious
(not an eager) tone:
"And Philip?"
I told her all I had learned from Cornelius, to which she listened
with a kindly heedfulness, only sometimes pressing her white teeth
upon her lower lip, and other times dropping her lustrous eyes from my
purposely steady, and perhaps reproachful, gaze.
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