Meyrick, and lived in a farmhouse not
quite a mile from the Hall.
She used often to come to the Hall, and take a peep at her lamb: this
was the name she gave Mr. Bassett long after he had ceased to be a
child.
About four years after the triumphant return to Huntercombe, Lady
Bassett conceived a sudden coldness toward the little boy, though he
was universally admired.
She concealed this sentiment from Sir Charles, but not from the female
servants: and, from one to another, at last it came round to Sir
Charles. He disbelieved it utterly at first; but, the hint having been
given him, he paid attention, and discovered there was, at all events,
some truth in it.
He awaited his opportunity and remonstrated: "My dear Bella, am I
mistaken, or do I really observe a falling off in your tenderness for
your child?"
Lady Bassett looked this way and that, as if she meditated flight, but
at last she resigned herself, and said, "Yes, dear Charles; my heart is
quite cold to him."
"Good Heavens, Bella! But why? Is not this the same little angel that
came to our help in trouble, that comforted me even before his birth,
when my mind was morbid, to say the least?"
"I suppose he is the same," said she, in a tone impossible to convey by
description of mine.
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