CHAPTER III.
THE CHAMBERLAIN'S LADY.
Where is there not _haute volee_?
Above the heavenly hosts are outspread the wings of cherubim and seraphim; and in the poultry-yards of earth the geese exalt their wings high over the other lesser feathered creatures.

It belongs to the ordination of the world.
The Chamberlain's lady, Gunilla W., belonged incontestibly to the highest _haute volee_ in the excellent city of X., where we have had the honour of making the acquaintance of the family of the Franks.

She was the sister of Governor Stjernhoek, and inhabited the third story of the house of which the Franks inhabited the second, and Evelina Berndes the first.
This lady had spent her youth at court, and passed many a day of wearisome constraint, and many a night in making those clothes which were to conceal from the world how poor Miss Gunilla was; yet neither night nor day did she complain either of constraint or of poverty, for she possessed under a plain exterior a strong and quiet spirit.
An old aunt used to preach to her thus: "Eat, that thou mayst grow fat; if thou art fat, thou wilt grow handsome; and if thou art handsome, thou wilt get married." Miss Gunilla, who never ate much, and who did not eat one mouthful more for this warning, grew neither fat nor handsome; yet on account of her excellent disposition she was beloved by every one, and especially by a young rich Chamberlain of the court, who, through his own good qualities and excellent heart, won her affections, and thus Miss Gunilla became Mistress.

After this, in the circle of her friends she was accustomed to be called Mrs.Gunilla; which freedom we also shall sometimes take with her here.
Shortly after her marriage, and in consequence of cold, her husband became a sad invalid.

For thirty years she lived separated from the world, a faithful and lonely attendant of the sick man; and what she bore and what she endured the world knew not, for she endured all in silence.