these menial duties. It was just here in the per 

 formance of these necessary banalities that we 

 grew to appreciate her extraordinary superiority 

 to them, and, to tell the truth, I think our appre 

 ciation of her had grown to that point where we 

 did not want her to play the part of help. 



Speaking for myself, it was interesting to observe 

 how my consideration for her had outstripped the 

 facts of the case, and how entirely oblivious she 

 was of the growth she had attained in my imagina 

 tion. If she understood clearly that I was an 

 invalid knight errant, playing at rustication, and 

 was to be humoured accordingly in all my freaks 

 of isolation, she never betrayed it. She had 

 placed Charlie and me under obligations by the 

 most womanly assistance, but I dared not assume 

 that she would not have done the same for any 

 body who had taken the cabin and proved him 

 self a gentleman and a harmless neighbour. I had 

 not discovered that this aggravating Florentine 

 rustic, who had volunteered as our handmaiden 

 with such an easy grace of condescension, dis 

 covered in me anything out of the usual run of 

 her experience. There was an impregnable im 

 partiality in her kindness that baffled egotism. 



But now that our housekeeping had lost her 

 supervision, we had to rely on our moral forti 

 tude, and prove to ourselves that in the perform 

 ance of a duty we were not to depend upon the 

 allurements. It was a very old task. We were 

 to face the gray days without sunshine ; that was 

 all. And the sunshine of Griselle was something 



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