1/9 CHAPTER SEVEN. It mattered little if his honour neglected me, and my lady never looked at me; it mattered little if my fellow-servants ill- used me and put upon me; it mattered little that I had not a friend but Con and the horses to talk to, and not a holiday to call my own. Not that she concerned herself specially about me, or went out of her way to be kind; but it did one good to see her about the place, with a smile for every one and a friendly word for man and beast. She even beat down the gloom that, in her absence, had weighed both on her father and mother. The former, indeed, was as indifferent as ever to his wife and the latter to her husband. |