f one of them--if
Abdiel the Faithful himself" (she was thinking of Milton) "were suddenly
stripped of the faculty of association, I think he would soon rush forth
from 'the ever-during gates,' leave heaven, and seek what he had lost in
hell. Yes, in the very hell from which he turned 'with retorted scorn.'"

Frances' tone in saying this was as marked as her language, and it
was when the word "hell" twanged off from her lips, with a somewhat
startling emphasis, that Hunsden deigned to bestow one slight glance of
admiration. He liked something strong, whether in man or woman; he liked
whatever dared to clear conventional limits. He had never before heard
a lady say "hell" with that uncompromising sort of accent, and the sound
pleased him from a lady's lips; he would fain have had Frances to strike
the string again, but it was not in her way. The display of eccentric
vigour never gave her pleasure, and it only sounded in her voice or
flashed in her countenance when extraordinary circumstances--and those
generally painful--forced it out of the depths where it burned latent.
To me, once or twice, she had in intimate conversation, uttered
venturous thoughts in nervous language; but when the hour of such
manifestation was past, I could not recall it; it came of itself and of
itself departed. Hunsden's excitations she put by soon with a smile, and
recurring to the theme of disputation, said--

"Since England is nothing, why do the continental nations respect her
so?"

"I should have thought no child would have asked that question," replied
Hunsden, who never at any time gave information without reproving for
stupidity those who asked it of him. "If you had been my pupil, as I
suppose you once had the misfortune to be that of a deplorable character
not a hundred miles off, I would have put you in the corner for such a
confession of ignorance. Why, mademoiselle, can't you see that it is
our GOLD which buys us French politeness, German good-will, and Swiss
servility?" And he sneered diabolically.

"Swiss?" said Frances, catching the word "servility." "Do you call my
countrymen servile?" and she started up. I could not suppress a low
laugh; there was ire in her glance and defiance in her attitude. "Do
you abuse Switzerland to me, Mr. Hunsden? Do you think I have no
associations? Do you calculate that I am prepared to dwell only on what
vice and degradation may be found in Alpine villages, and to leave
quite out of my heart the