"'Do you believe me guilty, Denise?' she asked.
"'The saints forbid,' I cried, 'that such a wicked thought should enter my mind! I know you to be an innocent, suffering lady.'
"'You will do as you have been bidden to do, Denise. While my husband and I are living you will not speak of what has passed within this room.'
"And never again was the subject referred to by either of us. She did not make the slightest allusion to it, and I did not dare to do so."
MOTHER DENISE HAS STRANGE FANCIES IN THE NIGHT
"A new life now commenced for us--a new and dreadful life. Mr. Almer gave orders that no person was to be admitted to the villa without his express permission. He denied himself to every chance visitor, and from that time until you came, my lady, no friend of the family, except a great banker, and occasionally Master Pierre Lamont, both of whom came upon business, ever entered the gates. The doctor, of course, when he was needed; but no one else.
"Mr. Almer passed most of his time in his study, writing and reading, and pacing to and fro as he used to do in times gone by. He did not make any enquiries about my lady, nor did she about him. She lived in these rooms, and, in my remembrance, did not stir out of them during the day. Master Christian slept in the inner room there, and was free to roam about as he pleased.
"Every morning I took the child to his father, who sometimes would kiss him and send him back to my lady, and sometimes would say:
"'You can leave him with me, Denise, for an hour.'
"Then he would take the child into the study, and lock the door, and nurse and sing to him. I was in the habit of seeing him thus engaged as I walked backwards and forwards in the grounds in front of the study, waiting for his summons to carry master Christian to his mother.
"His was not a happy childhood, for when he began ta speak and think, the estrangement between his parents puzzled him deeply, and made him sad. He was continually asking questions to which he received replies which perplexed him more and more. With childlike, innocent cunning he strove to draw them to each other. When he was with my lady, it was:
"'Mamma, why do you not go and speak to papa? There he is walking in the garden. Come out with me, mamma--come quickly, or papa will be gone.'