Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/234

222 "How delicious! I shall tell this in France. It is like some of our retired places in the provinces, where the government has erected telegraph lines, but the people do not know exactly what they are meant for! And when that wretched Suzanne left me, I asked at once for the French consul—but I found there was none in town. All of my adventures here have been novel—and as I have met with such very great kindness, I shall always regard them as amusing."

She showed no disposition to trespass on the hospitality so generously offered her, and looked out of the window anxiously when they rose to go to their rooms. But it had begun snowing early in the evening, and the ground was now perfectly white.

"No boat to-morrow, madam," said the Colonel. "You will, I am sure, be forced to content yourself at Corbin Hall for some days yet."

"I content myself perfectly," replied Madame de Fonblanque, with ready grace; "but one must be careful not to take advantage of so much generosity as yours."

When she was alone in the same old-fashioned bedroom that Farebrother had occupied,