She turned to them with arms out-stretched, but this put them
instantly to the rout, and they ran off as fast as their bare pink
feet could carry them, till one stumbled, and lay with her face down
and her plump legs kicking in the air. Aurelia caught her up, but
the capture produced a powerful yell, and out, all at once hurried
into the corridor, Mrs. Aylward, a tidy maid servant, a stout, buxom
countrywoman, and a rough girl, scarcely out of bed, but awake enough
to snatch the child out of the young lady's arms, and carry her off.
The housekeeper began scolding vigorously all round, and Aurelia
escaped into her room, where she completed her toilette, looking out
into a garden below, laid out in the formal Dutch fashion, with walks
and beds centring in a fountain, the grass plats as sharply defined
as possible, and stiff yews and cypresses dotted at regular intervals
or forming straight alleys. She felt strange and shy, but the sunshine,
the cheerfulness, and the sight of the children, had reassured her, and
when she had said her morning prayer, she had lost the last night's
sense of hopeless dreariness and unprotectedness. When another knock
came, she opened the door cheerfully, but there was a chill in meeting
Mrs. Aylward's grave, cold face, and stiff salutation.
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