But
I have been occupied entirely with your interests during my absence, and
the hope of pleasing my darling sister, and adding to her happiness, has
helped me to endure the long separation from her."
"The way to please me most, as you ought to have known," Isabelle
replied, "was to stay here at home quietly with your father and me, and
let us take care of you, instead of rushing off so rashly--with your
wound scarcely healed, or your health fully re-established--on some
foolish errand or other, that you were not willing to acknowledge."
"Was I ever really wounded, or ill?" said Vallombreuse, laughing. "Upon
my word I had forgotten all about it. Never in my life was I in better
health than at this moment, and my little expedition has done me no end
of good. But you, my sweet sister, are not looking as well as when I
left you; you have grown thin and pale. What is the matter? I fear that
you find your life here at the chateau very dull. Solitude and seclusion
are not at all the thing for a beautiful young woman, I know. Reading
and embroidery are but melancholy pastimes at best and there must be
moments when even the gravest, most sedate of maidens grows weary of
gazing out upon the stagnant waters of the moat, and longs to look upon
the face of a handsome young knight.
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