"
"Then you have felt it, Nina?" I said quietly. "O dear, yes.
There was Buttons,--that was our page, you know,--I loved him
dearly, but papa sent him away. Then there was Dick, the groom,
but he laughed at me, and I suffered misery!" and she struck a
tragic French attitude. "There is to be company here to-morrow,"
she added, rattling on with childish naivete, "and papa's
sweetheart--Blanche Marabout--is to be here. You know they say she
is to be my mamma."
What thrill was this shot through me? But I rose calmly, and,
administering a slight correction to the child, left the apartment.
Blunderbore House, for the next week, was the scene of gayety and
merriment. That portion of the mansion closed with a grating was
walled up, and the midnight shrieks no longer troubled me.
But I felt more keenly the degradation of my situation. I was
obliged to help Lady Blanche at her toilet and help her to look
beautiful. For what? To captivate him? O--no, no,--but why this
sudden thrill and faintness? Did he really love her? I had seen
him pinch and swear at her. But I reflected that he had thrown a
candlestick at my head, and my foolish heart was reassured.
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