Such an eye was now projected on the Governor's surroundings, and
its explorations were summed up in the tone in which Mrs. Nimick
repeated from the threshold: "I always say I don't see how she does
it!"
The tone did not escape the Governor, but it disturbed him no more
than the buzz of a baffled insect. Poor Grace! It was not his fault
if her husband was given to chimerical investments, if her sons were
"unsatisfactory," and her cooks would not stay with her; but it was
natural that these facts should throw into irritating contrast the
ease and harmony of his own domestic life. It made him all the
sorrier for his sister to know that her envy did not penetrate to
the essence of his happiness, but lingered on those external signs
of well-being which counted for so little in the sum total of his
advantages. Poor Mrs. Nimick's life seemed doubly thin and mean when
one remembered that, beneath its shabby surface, there were no
compensating riches of the spirit.
II
IT was the custodian of his own hidden treasure who at this moment
broke in upon his musings.
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