"It is bad
enough to have Louis blazing up like a volcano if one has the temerity
to mention her ladyship's name."
"How is Louis?" asked Mrs. Kennard, finding she was treading on
dangerous ground.
"Oh, the same as usual. He looks like a ghost, and is about as cheerful
as a cemetery. He spends his holidays going over musty old letters in
papa's desk. I'm sure I don't see what fun he finds in it. It is so
selfish in him, when he might be giving mamma and me some pleasure--but
Louis never did think of anyone but himself. One day I found him
stretched across the desk and it gave me such a fright! You know what a
state my nerves are in. I thought he was in a fit or something,--he just
looked like death, and he didn't seem to hear me when I called. He had a
large envelope addressed to papa in his hand and there was another under
his arm that didn't look as if it had ever been opened, but I couldn't
see the address. I ran for mamma, but before we got back he was gone and
the letters with him. Whatever it was, it has had an awful effect upon
him, though he won't give us any satisfaction, you know how provoking he
is. It is my belief he is going into decline, and I have such a horror
of contagious diseases!
"If Evadne is so anxious to work, why doesn't she come and help mamma
and me? It is the least she could do after all we have done for her, but
as mamma says, 'It is just a specimen of the ingratitude there is in the
world.
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