United States or Tuvalu ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The visage of the countess relaxed somewhat after Gaston had gone, but she remained lost in thought without further noticing her niece. Bertha was, at least, spared the nervous unrest produced by those piercing eyes ever upon her. Unfortunately Bertha's resources for self-diversion were of the most limited description.
How she passed the succeeding hours no one knew; she was not heard to move; she answered no knock; she took no notice of Bertha's petition that her dinner might be brought to her; she was not again seen until the next morning. There is no proverb truer than the one which suggests that even an ill wind blows some one good.
And, suddenly, with a rapid gesture, she put the letter, rolled into a ball, into her mouth, and tried to swallow it. But Sauvresy as quickly grasped her by the throat, and she was forced to disgorge it. He had the letter at last. His hands trembled so that he could scarcely open it. It was, indeed, Bertha's writing.
The middle-aged are prone to go about the world carrying their habits, their prejudices, and their ailments with them to return as they went forth; but youth like Bertha's adventures out into the world eager to be built upon, ready to be transformed from child to adult, as it would seem, in a day. "She has achieved new distinction!"
One day a fellow-artist came in casually, and they both squinted, measured, and compared the portrait and herself with the calm absorption of a couple of prize-pig committeemen at a cattle-show. "You see, this line is shorter," the stranger said, almost laying his finger on Bertha's neck. "Not so straight, as you've got it. That's a fine line " "I know it is!" "And you don't want to spoil it.
Then, as the nurse was leaving her, she called her back. "Nurse," she said, "I am in sore trouble about the dream. It bides with me, and will not cease to puzzle me until I weary for some one to read it plainly. I would that Queen Bertha's good chaplain were here, for I might have been helped by him."
The gay colours on the walls; the bright flowers on the plates and dishes; the shining wood, where there are beams or panels; the general cheerfulness and neatness of the building; make it very pretty. Cheerful and neat it was wherever Bertha's hands could busy themselves. But nowhere else, were cheerfulness and neatness possible, in the old crazy shed which Caleb's fancy so transformed.
The meeting between Bertha and Maurice was as full of tenderness as though they had been in reality what their strong family resemblance caused them to appear, brother and sister. "No word from Madeleine yet?" was Bertha's first inquiry, hardly an inquiry, for she knew what the answer must be. Then Maurice told her of the soeur de bon secours who had sat by his bed night after night.
That was glorious! That brightened up creation. By this time I needed food also, but I did not remain below to eat it. I brought my breakfast on deck, keeping my eyes all the time fixed upon Bertha's steamer. The distance between us did not seem to have varied. How I longed for a little breeze that might bring us together!
Bertha's father was a peasant, but he had, by his lumber trade, acquired what in Norway was called a very handsome fortune. He received his guest with dignified reserve, and Ralph thought he detected in his eyes a lurking look of distrust. "I know your errand," that look seemed to say, "but you had better give it up at once. It will be of no use for you to try."
Word Of The Day