And now the main stock had flowered in her, the sole child of her father, and the best match to be found that side of the Loire.
She sobbed in the chagrin of a new experience.

No one in her soft cushioned life had ever dared to gainsay her.

At Beaumanoir her word was law.

She had loved its rich idleness for the power it gave her.
Luxurious as she was, it was no passive luxury that she craved, but the sense of mastery, of being a rare thing set apart.

The spirit of the women of Beaumanoir burned fiercely in her..