This page has been validated.
80
THE EUROPEANS.
[CH.
cares much—she's a very clever woman; I'm sure you'll like her—but she wants to bother them. Just now everything is en lair."
The cheerful off-hand tone in which her visitor related this darkly romantic tale seemed to Gertrude very strange; but it seemed also to convey a certain flattery to herself, a recognition of her wisdom and dignity. She felt a dozen impressions stirring within her, and presently the one that was uppermost found words. "They want to dissolve her marriage?" she asked.
"So it appears."
"And against her will?"
"Against her right."
