What a soft contralto voice!
When he came in to breakfast, beaming, ready to tell everything,
he was confronted by two large eyes, which said as plainly as
possible, "Am I put on one side already?" He became absolutely
angry. During breakfast she said, in a tone of indifference, that
she was going to drive to the Dean's, to thank him for the
supervision which he had given to the estate during all these
years. He did not answer, from which she inferred that he did not
wish to go with her. It was some time before she started. The
harness was new, the stable-boy raw and untrained. She saw nothing
more of Rafael.
She was received at the parsonage with the greatest respect, and
yet very heartily. The Dean was a fine old man and thoroughly
practical. His wife was of profounder nature. Both protested that
the care of the estate had been no trouble to them, it had only
been a pleasant employment; Helene had now undertaken it.
"Helene?"
Yes; it had so chanced that the first bailiff at Hellebergene had
once been agronomist and forester on a large concern which was in
liquidation, Helene had taken such a fancy to him, that when she
was not at school, she went with him everywhere; and, indeed, he
was a wonderful old man.
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