A yard or two from the table she stopped
and curtsied again.
"I hope that I have the happiness of finding your ladyship quite well,"
she said, in a low, clear voice, in which there was not the slightest
tremor or hesitation.
"And pray, Miss Hope, what can it matter to you whether I am well or
ill? Answer me that, if you please."
"I owe so much to your ladyship, I have been such a pensioner on your
bounty ever since I can remember anything, that mere selfishness alone,
if no higher motive be allowed me, must always prompt me to feel an
interest in the state of your ladyship's health."
"Candid, at any rate. But I wish you clearly to understand that whatever
obligation you may feel yourself under to me for what is past and gone,
you have no claim of any kind upon me for the future. The tie between us
can be severed by me at any moment."
"Seven years ago your ladyship impressed that fact so strongly on my
mind that I have never forgotten it. I have never felt myself to be
other than a dependent on your bounty."
"A very praiseworthy feeling, young lady, and one which I trust you will
continue to cherish.
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