Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/184

Rh who cared little for new ideas and new ways. When any part of the château needed repair, it was repaired on the old plan; and so, in the year 1895 it looked from outside the same as it had in the days of Henri Quatre. Even the old gardens were the same—stiff and stately, with old-fashioned flowers, and dark, high hedges; no gay, giddy new-fangled blossoms or imported plants and shrubs. The very servants looked as if they might have been there a hundred years or so. There was only one young thing about the château, and that was the young heir, Bertrand Philippe André de Lys, who would some day be Lord of Montarbre. The name suggested power and pride, and conjured up a picture of a dashing young noble, full of fire and spirit. But Bertrand de Lys was not at all like that picture. He was a frail little boy who could not so much as walk, having been an invalid since his fourth year.