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406 THE SORBOWS OF ESTELLE LAMAGE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
¦* »¦ The Other Day I Walked With Madame...
th a widow y with , with her two especiall little y daug as Estelle hters , 's would misfortune have was felt occasioned some symp "b a y -
, ma * dame ' s return . But not a bit did Madame or Monsieur de Bonneval appear to trouble themselves beyond giving a trifle
towards funeral expenses . Some three or four years later , when Henriette , Estelle ' s eldest girl , was eleven or twelve years old , the
family were again at the chateau , and Madame Charles walking in the elm-tree avenue with little Monsieur Leon one afternoon , saw
Henriette at play with some of her companions . Madame , struck I suppose with the child's good looks , for she was as handsome and
tall a girl of her years as you could well see anywhere , called her to her , and began talking with her . Amongst other things , madame
asked her whether she would like to go to England , and Henriette , who was always ready with a bold answer , said that she was
just going to ask madame to take her with her . Madame laughed and replied that she was glad of that , because she would certainly
take her . I remember the day well enough , for it was just before the Fete Dieuand I had gone up to Estelle ' s cottage to
mend the altar lace . , Henriette came rusMng in past her little sister who was sitting on the door-step mending some of the easiest
holes , and exclaimed , " Mother , I ' m going to England with the great lady at the chateau . " Down dropped our needles in our
astonishment , and we were not a little incredulous of the truth of her story , whilst she quickly poured forth an account of her
adventures . Madame and little monsieur had taken her to the chateauinto the drawing-rooms , even into Monsieur Leon's and
Monsieur , Hyppolite ' s school-rooms . She had seen such beautiful mirrors and tables and sofas : had heard madame sing and play
upon the large piano in the middle of the large salon , and to hear her sing was to hear better music than in a church . She had
seen old Monsieur de Bonneval , who had called her a pretty girl , and said he was glad that she was going to England : had seen
madame ' s beautiful jewels in her dressing-case , for Evans , madame ' s maid , had shown them her . She had drunk a glass of wine
and eaten some grapes in the steward ' s wife ' s room , and had finished up with a game of play in the farm-yard with Jacques the
steward ' s son , who told her that she must be sure and go over to England and get very rich , as . all the people did there , and then
when she came back , if she had plenty of money , he would marry her . And she danced about the cottage floor , and said that she
would never eat another dry crust of bread , or wear an old dress , but be a lady and wait upon madame and see all the countries in
the world . " Poor Estelle sat and gazed at the child in horror , thinking that
she must have gone out of her mind , so strangely excited did she seem , and so improbable to her appeared the whole thing . Little Blanche
cried and begged her sister to stay , saying ' if she would only not
go away , she would willingly give her all her holy pictures and
406 The Sorbows Of Estelle Lamage.
406 THE SORBOWS OF ESTELLE LAMAGE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1859, page 406, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021859/page/46/
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