been a lady, in spite of the grumblings of his uncle and of her own
refractoriness, for she was horribly frightened, and could not
understand a word he said to her.

Nevertheless, as soon as we had all of us come to ourselves, it
turned out that he had gained her heart. Indeed, otherwise I should
have had to send her home, for she pined sadly for some time, and
nothing but her love for me and her enthusiastic loyalty to him kept
her up during the first months.

As to my husband and me, that voyage had made us as fond of one
another's company on one side of the Channel as we had been afraid of
it before on the other, but there was no more riding together for us.
I had to travel in the great coach with M. le Marquis, the three
ladies, and all our women, where I was so dull and weary that I
should have felt ready to die, but for watching for my husband's
plume, or now and then getting a glance and a nod from him as he rode
among the other gentlemen, braving all their laughter at his
devotion; for, bashful as he was, he knew how to hold his own.

I knew that the ladies looked on me as an ugly little rustic
foreigner, full of English mauvaise honte. If they tried to be kind
to me, it was as a mere child; and they went on with their chatter,
which I could hardly follow, for it was about things and people of
which I knew nothing, so that I could not understand their laughter.
Or when they rejoiced in their return from what they called their
exile, and found fault with all they had left in England, my cheeks
burned with indignation.

My happy hours were when we halted for refreshments. My husband