Loveday begged Miss Delavie not to hold out when it was of no
use, for her Ladyship declared that her contumacy would be the worse
for her. Aurelia's garrison was, however, too well reinforced for
any vague alarms to shake even her out works, and she only smiled
her refusal, as in truth Mrs. Loveday must have expected, for it
appeared that she had secured a maid to attend on the prisoners; an
extremely deaf woman, who only spoke in the broken imperfect mode of
those who have never heard their own voice, deficiencies that made
it possible that Madge would keep the peace with her.
Lady Belamour had also found another piece of work for Aurelia. A
dark cupboard was opened, revealing shelves piled with bundle of
old letters and papers. There was a family tradition that one of
the ladies of the Delavie family had been an attendant of Mary of
Scotland for a short time, and had received from her a recipe for
preserving the complexion and texture of the skin, devised by the
French Court perfumer. Nobody had ever seen this precious
prescription; but it was presumed to be in the archives of the
family, and her ladyship sent word that if Miss Delavie wished
to deserve her favour she would put her French to some account
and discover it.
A severe undertaking it was.
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