and of
the blow which it had been to them, this pleasant smile had been rare.
She seemed always thoughtful. Her birdlike playfulness, her childlike
ways, were gone. She was never seen now in the morning, at the sound of
the cannon which announced daybreak, saluting the rising sun with "Boom!
Daylight! Come in, please!" At times her expression was very serious, a
sad thing for that sweet nature. She made an effort, however, sometimes
to laugh before Mess Lethierry and to divert him; but her cheerfulness
grew tarnished from day to day--gathered dust like the wing of a
butterfly with a pin through its body. Whether through sorrow for her
uncle's sorrow--for there are griefs which are the reflections of other
griefs--or whether for any other reasons, she appeared at this time to
be much inclined towards religion. In the time of the old rector, M.
Jaquemin Herode, she scarcely went to church, as has been already said,
four times a year. Now she was, on the contrary, assiduous in her
attendance. She missed no service, neither of Sunday nor of Thursday.
Pious souls in the parish remarked with satisfaction that amendment. For
it is a great blessing when a girl who runs so many dangers in the world
turns her thoughts towards God. That enables the poor parents at least
to be easy on the subject of love-making and what not.

In the evening, whenever the weather permitted, she walked for an hour
or two in the garden of the Bravees. She was almost as pensive there as
Mess Lethierry, and almost always alone. Deruchette went to bed last.
This, however, did not prevent Douce and Grace watching her a little, by
that instinct for spying which is common to servants; spying is such a
relaxation after household work.

As to Mess Lethierry, in the abstracted state of his mind, these little
changes in Deruchette's habits escaped him. Moreover, his nature had
little in common with the Duenna. He had not even remarked her
regularity at the church. Tenacious of his prejudices against the clergy
and their sermons, he would have seen with little pleasure these
frequent attendances at the parish church. It was not because his own
moral condition was not undergoing change. Sorrow is a cloud which
changes form.

Robust natures, as we have said, are sometimes almost overthrown by
sudden great misfortunes; but not quite. Manly characters such as
Lethierry's experience a reaction in a given time. Despair has its
backward stages. From overwhelmment w