Marquis d'Arval,
which had reached him through the medium of the friend (the chaplain of
his regiment), whose visit to his family established at Caen had been
the means of inducing Walter to accompany him thither, little dreaming,
while quietly acquiescing in his friend's arrangements, to what
conclusions (so momentous for himself) they were unwittingly tending.
The brother and sister-in-law of Mr Seldon (the clerical friend alluded
to) were still resident at Caen, and acquainted, though not on terms of
intimacy, with the families of St Hilaire and Du Resnel. La petite
Madelaine was, however, better known to them than any other individual
of the two households. They had been at first kindly interested for her,
by observing the degree of unmerited slight to which she was subjected
in her own family, and the species of half dependence on the capricious
kindness of others to which it had been the means of reducing her. The
subdued but not servile spirit with which she submitted to undeserved
neglect and innumerable mortifications, interested them still more
warmly in her favour; and on the few occasions when they obtained
permission for her to visit them at Caen, the innocent playfulness of
her sweet and gentle nature shone out so engagingly in the sunshine
of encouragement, and her affectionate gratitude evinced itself so
artlessly, that they felt they could have loved her tenderly, had she
been at liberty to give them as much of her society as she was inclined
to do. But heartlessness and jealousy are not incompatible, and Mlle. de
St Hilaire was jealous of everything she condescended to patronise.
Besides, la petite Madelaine had been too useful to her in various ways
to be dispensed with; and when, latterly, the capricious beauty became
indifferent, or rather averse to her continuance at the Chateau beyond
the stated period of secret service in the mysterious boudoir, Madelaine
was well content to escape to her own unkindly home; and, strange
to say, better satisfied with the loneliness of her own little
turret-chamber, or the dumb companionship of poor Roland, and with the
drudgery of household needlework (always her portion at home), than even
in the society of her amiable friends at Caen, to which she might then
have resorted more unrestrainedly. But though they saw her seldom, the
depression of her spirits and her altered looks passed not unnoticed
by them. And although she uttered no complaint of her cousin, it was