Sympathy
between them there was none; nor had he ever troubled himself to cultivate
her tastes, or attempted in the smallest degree to bring her nearer to him.
To Bessie Lovel, therefore, this sister of her husband's, in all the glory
of her fresh young beauty and sumptuous apparel, seemed a creature of
another sphere, something to be gazed upon almost in fear and trembling.
"I beg your parding!" she faltered, rubbing her eyes. She was apt, when
agitated, to fall back upon the pronunciation of her girlhood, before
Austin Lovel had winced and ejaculated at her various mutilations of the
language. "I was just taking forty winks after my bit of dinner."
"I am so sorry I disturbed you," said Clarissa, in her gracious way. "You
were tired, I daresay."
"O, pray don't mention it! I'm sure I feel it a great compliment your
comin'. It must seem a poor place to you after your beautiful house in the
Roo de Morny. Austin told me where you lived; and I took the liberty of
walking that way one evening with a lady friend. I'm sure the houses are
perfect palaces."
"I wish you could come to my house as my sister-in-law ought," replied
Clarissa. "I wanted to confide in my husband, to bring about a friendship
between him and my brother, if I could; but Austin tells me that is
impossible. I suppose he knows best. So, you see, I am obliged to act in
this underhand way, and to come to see you by stealth, as it were.
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