Page:The Europeans (1st edition) Volume 1.djvu/184

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THE EUROPEANS.
[CH.

it must be a strange household, Eugenia having told her that Augustine managed everything, the ancient negress included—Augustine, who was naturally devoid of all acquaintance with the expurgatory English tongue. By far the most immoral sentiment which I shall have occasion to attribute to Charlotte Wentworth was a certain emotion of disappointment at finding that in spite of these irregular conditions the domestic arrangements at the small house were apparently not—from Eugenia's peculiar point of view—strikingly offensive. The Baroness found it amusing to go to tea; she dressed as if for dinner. The tea-table offered an anomalous and picturesque repast; and on leaving it they all sat and talked in the large