Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
The charge of low tastes was founded upon the fact that there was not an
artisan about the castle, from Caspar downwards, whom Dorothy did not
know and address by his name; but her detractors, in drawing their
conclusions from it, never thought of finding any related significance
in another fact, namely, that there was not a single animal either, of
consequence enough to have a name, which did not know by it. There were
very few of the animals indeed which did not know her in return, if not
by her name, yet by her voice or her presence--some of them even by her
foot or her hand. She would wander about the farmyard and stables for an
hour at a time, visiting all that were there, and specially her little
horse, which she had long, oh, so long ago! named Dick, nor had taken
his name from him any more than from Marquis.
The charge of lawlessness in her movements was founded on another fact
as well, namely, that she was often seen in the court after dusk, and
that not merely in running across to the keep, as she would be doing at
all hours, but loitering about, in full view of the windows. It was not
denied that this took place only when the organ was playing--but then
who played the organ? Was not the poor afflicted boy, barring the blank
of his eyes, beautiful as an angel? And was not mistress Dorothy too
deep to be fathomed? And so the tattling streams flowed on, and the ears
of mistress Amanda willingly listened to their music, nor did she
disdain herself to contribute to the reservoir in which those of the
castle whose souls thirsted after the minutiae of live biography,
accumulated their stores of fact and fiction, conjecture and falsehood.
Lord Herbert came home to bury his little one, and all that was left
behind of her was borne to the church of St. Cadocus, the parish church
of Raglan, and there laid beside the marquis's father and mother. He
remained with them a fortnight, and his presence was much needed to
lighten the heavy gloom that had settled over both his wife and his
father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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