Christina consoled herself with the hope that he knew all the time
why he had been sent out of the way, for, with a broad grin that had
made her blush painfully, he had said he knew she would be well taken
care of, and that he hoped she was not breaking her heart for want of
an escort. She tried to extort Eberhard's permission to let him at
least know how it was; but Eberhard laughed, saying he believed the
old fox knew just as much as he chose; and, in effect, Sorel, though
now and then gratifying his daughter's scruples, by serving as a
shield to her meetings with the young Baron, never allowed himself to
hear a hint of the true state of affairs.
Eberhard's love and reverence were undiminished, and the time spent
with him would have been perfectly happy could she ever have divested
herself of anxiety and alarm; but the periods of his absence from the
castle were very terrible to her, for the other women of the
household, quick to perceive that she no longer repelled him, had
lost that awe that had hitherto kept them at a distance from her, and
treated her with a familiarity, sometimes coarse, sometimes spiteful,
always hateful and degrading.
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