I felt my face grow hot with shame and anger, for she seemed to look on me and speak of me--not to me--as if I had been some strange, semi-human creature, discovered in the woods, and brought in as a great curiosity. "No; it was not his countenance, only his curious garments and his words that astonished us," said the father in reply. She made no answer to this, but presently, addressing me directly, said: "You were a long time in the house before you expressed a wish to see me." I found my speech then--a wretched, hesitating speech, for which I hated myself--and replied, that I had asked to be allowed to see her as soon as I had been informed of her existence. She turned on the father a look of surprise and inquiry. "You must remember, Chastel," said he, "that he comes to us from some strange, distant island, having customs different from ours--a thing I had never heard of before. I can give you no other explanation." Her lip curled, and then, turning to me, she continued: "If there are houses in your island without mothers in them, it is not so elsewhere in the world. That you went out to travel so poorly provided with knowledge is a marvel to us; and as I have had the pain of telling you this, I must regret that you ever left your own home." I could make no reply to these words, which fell on me like whip-strokes; and looking at the other faces, I could see no sympathy in them for me; as they looked at her--their mother--and listened to her words, the expression they wore was love and devotion to her only, reminding me a little of the angel faces on Guide's canvas of the "Coronation of the Virgin." "Go now," she presently added in a petulant tone; "I am tired, and wish to rest"; and Yoletta, who had been standing silently by me all the time, took my hand and led me from the room. With eyes cast down I passed through the gallery, paying no attention to its strange, stony occupants; and leaving my gentle conductress without a word at the door of the music-room, I hurried away from the house. For I could feel love and compassion in the touch of the dear girl's hand, and it seemed to me that if she had spoken one word, my overcharged heart would have found vent in tears. I only wished to be alone, to brood in secret on my pain and the bitterness of defeat; for it was plain that the woman I had so wished to see, and, since seeing her, so wished to be allowed to love, felt towards me nothing but contempt and aversion, and that from no fault of my own, she, whose friendship I most needed, was become my enemy in the house.