'Pleasant thoughts, truly! Walled in by the hills--walled in and hemmed
round for ever. This place has always felt like a grave: and now I know
that it _is_ my grave.'
Fraeulein, and Lady Mary, and the maid Halcott, a sedate personage of
forty summers, had all been instructed by the doctor that Lady
Maulevrier was to be kept profoundly quiet. She must not talk much,
since speech was likely to be a painful effort with her for some little
time; she must not be talked to much by anyone, least of all must she be
spoken to upon any agitating topic. Life must be made as smooth and easy
for her as for a new-born infant. No rough breath from the outer world
must come near her. She was to see no one but her maid and her
granddaughter. Mr. Horton, a plain family man, took it for granted that
the granddaughter was dear to her heart, and likely to exercise a
soothing influence. Thus it happened that although Lady Maulevrier asked
repeatedly that James Steadman should be brought to her, she was not
allowed to see him. She whose will had been paramount in that house,
whose word had been law, was now treated as a little child, while the
will was still as strong, the mind as keen as ever.
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