Page:Gilbert Parker--The Lane that had No Turning.djvu/91

Rh word there: a little child to be caressed or an old woman to be comforted, the sick to be fed and doctored, the poor to be helped, the idle to be rebuked with a persuasive smile, the angry to be coaxed by a humorous word, the evil to be reproved by a fearless friendliness, the spiteful to be hushed by a still, commanding presence. She never seemed to remember that she was the daughter of old Joe Lajeunesse the blacksmith, yet she never seemed to forget it. She was the wife of the Seigneur, and she was the daughter of the smithy-man too. She sat in the smithy-man’s doorway with her hand in his; and she sat at the manor table with its silver glitter, and its antique garnishings, with as real an unconsciousness.

Her influence seemed to pierce far and wide. The Curé and the Avocat adored her; and the proudest, happiest moment of their lives was when they sat at the manor table, or, in the sombre drawing-room, watched her give it light and grace and charm, and fill their hearts with the piercing delight of her song. So her life had gone on; to the outward world serene and happy, full of simplicity, charity, and good works. What it was in reality no one could know, not even herself. Since the day when Louis had tried to kill George Fournel, life had been a different thing for them both. On her part she had been deeply hurt; wounded beyond repair. He had failed her from every vital stand-point, he had not fulfilled one hope she had ever had of him. But she laid the blame not at his door; she rather shrank with inner bitterness from the cynical cruelty of nature, which, in deforming the body, with a merciless cruelty had deformed a noble mind. These things were between her and her inmost soul.

To Louis she was ever the same—affectionate,