"
Sir Charles Bassett now belonged to the tribe of clucking cocks quite
as much as his cousin had ever done; only Sir Charles had the good
taste to confine his clucks to his own first-floor. Here, to be sure,
he richly indemnified himself for his self-denial abroad. He sat for
hours at a time watching the boy on the ground at his knee, or in his
nurse's arms.
And while he watched the infant with undisguised delight, Lady Bassett
would watch _him_ with a sort of furtive and timid complacency.
Yet at times she suffered from twinges of jealousy--a new complaint
with her.
I think I have mentioned that Sir Charles, at first, was annoyed at
seeing his son and heir nursed by a woman of low condition. Well, he
got over that feeling by degrees, and, as soon as he did get over it,
his sentiments took quite an opposite turn. A woman for whom he did
very little, in his opinion--since what, in Heaven's name, were a
servant's wages?--he saw that woman do something great for him; saw her
nourish his son and heir from her own veins; the child had no other
nurture; yet the father saw him bloom and thrive, and grow
surprisingly.
A weak observer, or a less enthusiastic parent, might have overlooked
all this; but Sir Charles had naturally an observant eye and an
analytical mind, and this had been suddenly but effectually developed
by the asylum and his correspondence with Rolfe.
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