ousehold where every individual lived all day in the sight of every
other member of the family, never wanted either cheerful words or the
sense of silent companionship, this grand isolation of mine was very
formidable; and the more so, because M. de la Tourelle, as landed
proprietor, sportsman, and what not, was generally out of doors the
greater part of every day, and sometimes for two or three days at a
time. I had no pride to keep me from associating with the domestics; it
would have been natural to me in many ways to have sought them out for
a word of sympathy in those dreary days when I was left so entirely to
myself, had they been like our kindly German servants. But I disliked
them, one and all; I could not tell why. Some were civil, but there was
a familiarity in their civility which repelled me; others were rude, and
treated me more as if I were an intruder than their master's chosen
wife; and yet of the two sets I liked these last the best.

The principal male servant belonged to this latter class. I was very
much afraid of him, he had such an air of suspicious surliness about him
in all he did for me; and yet M. de la Tourelle spoke of him as most
valuable and faithful. Indeed, it sometimes struck me that Lefebvre
ruled his master in some things; and this I could not make out. For,
while M. de la Tourelle behaved towards me as if I were some precious
toy or idol, to be cherished, and fostered, and petted, and indulged, I
soon found out how little I, or, apparently, any one else, could bend
the terrible will of the man who had on first acquaintance appeared
to me too effeminate and languid to exert his will in the slightest
particular. I had learnt to know his face better now; and to see that
some vehement depth of feeling, the cause of which I could not fathom,
made his grey eye glitter with pale light, and his lips contract, and
his delicate cheek whiten on certain occasions. But all had been so open
and above board at home, that I had no experience to help me to unravel
any mysteries among those who lived under the same roof. I understood
that I had made what Madame Rupprecht and her set would have called a
great marriage, because I lived in a chateau with many servants, bound
ostensibly to obey me as a mistress. I understood that M. de la Tourelle
was fond enough of me in his way--proud of my beauty, I dare say (for
he often enough spoke about it to me)--but he was also jealous, and
suspicious, and uninflue