Nay, she was not even
told that she was going to be married. She only got an inkling of it
from various phenomena that struck her from time to time, such as the
polite attentions of the baron, the whispering of the domestics, the
altered attitude towards her of the various members of the family--who
now addressed her in the tone you employ when speaking to a baroness
that is to be. And then there was Clementina's chatter! Clementina was
now for ever talking of all the sewing and stitching that had to be done
for the young lady, and of the frightful quantities of linen and lace
and silk that were being made up into dresses and other garments. Six
seamstresses were hard at work, she said, and she was helping them and
yet they had to make night into day in order to get the necessary things
ready in time.
So gradually they accustomed her to the idea of it, till at last one
day Madame Langai took her aside and lectured her solemnly as to the
duties of women in general and of women of rank in particular, pointing
out at the same time how much such women owed to their own families for
looking after and providing for them and expressing the hope that
Henrietta would be duly grateful to the end of her days to _her_
family--from all which she was able to gather that any opposition on her
part would not be tolerated for a moment.
The day was already fixed for the exchange of the bridal rings, but the
night before that day, Henrietta suddenly fell ill, and, what is more,
dangerously ill, so that they had to run off for the family physician
incontinently.
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