"
"Is it a great trouble to you?"
"No,--I rather like it. It makes me feel that I do something in the
world."
"Do you go alone?"
"Quite alone. I take a German maid with me, and never speak a word to
any one else on the journey."
"That must be very bad," said Phineas.
"Yes; it is the worst of it. But then I am so much accustomed to be
alone. You see me in society, and in society only, and therefore
naturally look upon me as one of a gregarious herd; but I am in truth
an animal that feeds alone and lives alone. Take the hours of the
year all through, and I am a solitary during four-fifths of them. And
what do you intend to do?"
"I go to Ireland."
"Home to your own people. How nice! I have no people to go to. I
have one sister, who lives with her husband at Riga. She is my only
relation, and I never see her."
"But you have thousands of friends in England."
"Yes,--as you see them,"--and she turned and spread out her hands
towards the crowded lawn, which was behind them. "What are such
friends worth? What would they do for me?"
"I do not know that the Duke would do much," said Phineas laughing.
Madame Goesler laughed also. "The Duke is not so bad," she said. "The
Duke would do as much as any one else. I won't have the Duke abused.
Pages:
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901