s_, does not flourish on the soil of this marriage, but is
robbed of air and light by all sorts of weeds, can scarcely--as I've
seen you engaged in the most confidential conversation with Her
Excellency--have escaped your notice."

A deep flush crimsoned Edwin's face, and he was on the point of sending
the insolent spy about his business with a sharp answer, when the
thought of how unwise it would be to give the wily diplomat a direct
refusal, restrained him. "Perhaps you're mistaken in regard to the
degree of confidence the countess bestows upon me," he answered dryly.

"Well, well, let that pass," laughed the little doctor, pausing a
moment beside his horse, which was quietly grazing. "I'll do no
violence to your discretion, heaven forbid! But I--you may think what
you please of it--must unbosom myself entirely, that my old friend's
son may see my hands are clean. I know why the countess hates me; she
has not left me in doubt. You see, my worthy friend, ever since the
child was born--you understand me--since that time the marriage has
been practically the same as cancelled. Why so? Perhaps you know more
about it than I. And between ourselves, what concern is it of mine? I
didn't make the match; if it doesn't turn out happily, why should I
concern myself about it? But it's not to be expected that my former
pupil and present lord and master, the count, would take the matter so
phlegmatically. He asked me to discover the reason of his wife's sudden
dislike, which increased till she retired into convent-like seclusion.
He asked _me_, why I had never even had the honor of feeling my
beautiful mistress' pulse; at the utmost she might consult me if one of
her waiting maids had a sore finger; for she seemed to have formed an
unfavorable opinion of me at our first meeting. So nothing could be
done by me. Besides, I was convinced that no physical cause lay at the
bottom of her strange antipathy to her husband. What could it be?
You've seen him. He may not be quite so irresistible as he considers
himself; but as she didn't always dislike him--in short, the matter
seemed to belong to some other province than medicine. But we advanced
no farther than this. I counseled patience. But at thirty years of age,
when a man is madly in love, and moreover accustomed to have his orders
obeyed on his own domain, from his mother down to the youngest
groom--you understand that patience could not last long. There were
scenes, touching and brut