As soon as Henriette was visible, I went up to her room to talk
matters over. She was very humble and apologetic, and disarmed me if I
had intended to take her to task for all the trouble and anxiety she
had caused us. But when I magnanimously said, "I am not going to scold
you," she was in my arms at once.
"Scold me! I should think not! I have been scolded quite enough these
last twenty-four hours. I never met a man I disliked so much as your
fine friend, that Colonel Annesley, the rudest, most presuming,
overbearing wretch. He talked to me and ordered me about as if I was
still in the schoolroom, he actually dared to find fault with my
actions, and dictated to me what I should do next. I--I--"
"Did it, Henriette? Like a lamb, eh? That's a way he has, my dear," I
laughed.
"I don't envy you one bit, Claire. You'll be a miserable woman. You
hate to give way, and he'll make you. He'll tame you, and lord it over
you, he'll be a hard, a cruel master, for all he thinks so much of you
now."
"And does he?" What sweeter music in a woman's ear than to be told of
the sway she exercises over the man of her choice?
"Why, of course, he thinks all the world of you.
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