'A good wife to Maulevrier,' she said, in a mocking tone. Well, yes, as
good a wife as such a husband deserved. 'I was better than Caesar's
wife, Mary, for no breath of suspicion ever rested upon my name. But if
I had married Ronald Hollister, I should have been a happy woman; and
that I have never been since I parted from him.'
'You have never seen the present Lord Hartfield, I think?'
'Never; but I have watched his career, I have thought of him. His father
died while he was an infant, and he was brought up in seclusion by a
widowed mother, who kept him tied to her apron-strings till he went to
Oxford. She idolised him, and I am told she taught herself Latin and
Greek, mathematics even, in order to help him in his boyish, studies,
and, later on, read Greek plays and Latin poetry with him, till she
became an exceptional classic for a woman. She was her son's companion
and friend, sympathised with his tastes, his pleasures, his friendships;
devoted every hour of her life, every thought of her mind to his
welfare, his interests, walked with him, rode with him, travelled half
over Europe, yachted with him.
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