im glum.

But he was not glum; I resented that, till Dr. John begged my pardon.
Martin did not smile as quickly as Dr. John, he was not forever ready
with a simper, but when he did smile it had ten times more expression. I
liked to watch for it, for the light that came into his eyes now and
then, breaking through his gravity as the sun breaks through the clouds
on a dull day.

Perhaps he thought I liked to be free. Yes, free from tyranny, but not
free from love. It is a poor thing to have no one's love encircling you,
a poor freedom that. A little clew came to my hand one day, the other
end of which might lead me to the secret of Martin's reserve and gloom.
He and Dr. Senior were talking together, as they paced to and fro about
the lawn, coming up the walk from the river-side to the house, and then
back again. I was seated just within the drawing-room window, which was
open. They knew I was there, but they did not guess how keen my hearing
was for any thing that Martin said. It was only a word or two here and
there that I caught.

"If you were not in the way," said Dr. Senior, "John would have a good
chance, and there is no one in the world I would sooner welcome as a
daughter."

"They are like one another," answered Martin; "have you never seen it?"

What more they said I did not hear, but it seemed a little clearer to me
after that why Martin kept aloof from me, and left me to ride, and talk,
and laugh with his friend Jack. Why, they did not know that I was
happier silent beside Martin, than laughing most merrily with Dr. John.
So little did they understand me!

Just before Lent, which was a busy season with him, Monsieur Laurentie
paid us his promised visit, and brought us news from Ville-en-bois. The
money that had been lying in the bank, which I could not touch, whatever
my necessities were, had accumulated to more than three thousand pounds,
and out of this sum were to come the funds for making Ville-en-bois the
best-drained parish in Normandy. Nothing could exceed Monsieur
Laurentie's happiness in choosing a design for a village fountain, and
in examining plans for a village hospital. For, in case any serious
illness should break out again among them, a simple little hospital was
to be built upon the brow of the hill, where the wind sweeps across
leagues of meadow-land and heather.

"I am too happy, madame," said the cure; "my people will die no more of
fever, and we will teach them many English ways. Whe