His splendid frame
shattered by the stroke of illness, his heart bereaved, his great mind
dulled and saddened, there were few friends faithful to him, but my
Lord Duke of Osmonde, who had never sought his favour or required his
protection, who had often held views differing from his own and hidden
none of them, was among the few in whose company he found solace and
pleasure.
"I see you as I was," he would say. "Nay, rather as I might have been
had Nature given me a thing she gave to you and withheld from John
Churchill. You were the finer creature and less disturbed by poor
worldly dreams."
So more than once he came to be guest at Camylott, and would be moved
to pleasure by the happiness and fulness of life in the very air of the
place, by the joyousness of the tall, handsome children, by the spirit
and sweet majesty of the tall beauty their mother, by the loveliness of
the country and the cheerful air of well-being among the villagers and
tenantry. But most of all he gave thought to the look which dwelt in
the eyes of my Lord Duke and the woman who was so surely mate and
companion as well as wife to him. When, though 'twas even at the
simplest moment, each looked at the other, 'twas a heavenly thing plain
to see.
Upon one of their wedding-days he was at Camylott with them. 'Twas but
a short time before the quiet death of Mistress Anne, and was the tenth
anniversary of their Graces' union.
Pages:
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379