I did
not dare then to ask what was the matter; but, the next time I saw her
crying, I did, and she seemed displeased;--so I said no more. I found
out, some time after, how it was. Her father, it seems, had commanded
her to marry my lord, the Marquis, for his money, and there was another
nobleman, or else a chevalier, that she liked better and that was very
fond of her, and she fretted for the loss of him, I fancy, but she never
told me so. My lady always tried to conceal her tears from the Marquis,
for I have often seen her, after she has been so sorrowful, look so calm
and sweet, when he came into the room! But my lord, all of a sudden,
grew gloomy and fretful, and very unkind sometimes to my lady. This
afflicted her very much, as I saw, for she never complained, and she
used to try so sweetly to oblige him and to bring him into a good
humour, that my heart has often ached to see it. But he used to be
stubborn, and give her harsh answers, and then, when she found it all
in vain, she would go to her own room, and cry so! I used to hear her
in the anti-room, poor dear lady! but I seldom ventured to go to her.
I used, sometimes, to think my lord was jealous. To be sure my lady was
greatly admired, but she was too good to deserve suspicion. Among the
many chevaliers, that visited at the chateau, there was one, that I
always thought seemed just suited for my lady; he was so courteous, yet
so spirited, and there was such a grace, as it were, in all he did, or
said. I always observed, that, whenever he had been there, the Marquis
was more gloomy and my lady more thoughtful, and it came into my head,
that this was the chevalier she ought to have married, but I never could
learn for certain.'

'What was the chevalier's name, Dorothee?' said Emily.

'Why that I will not tell even to you, ma'amselle, for evil may come of
it. I once heard from a person, who is since dead, that the Marchioness
was not in law the wife of the Marquis, for that she had before been
privately married to the gentleman she was so much attached to, and was
afterwards afraid to own it to her father, who was a very stern man; but
this seems very unlikely, and I never gave much faith to it. As I was
saying, the Marquis was most out of humour, as I thought, when the
chevalier I spoke of had been at the chateau, and, at last, his ill
treatment of my lady made her quite miserable. He would see hardly any
visitors at the castle, and made her live almost by hers