"That's the pleasure of seeing you. She's very happy. Elle eclaire
la maison," said the good sister.
Pansy wore, as Madame Merle had said, a little black dress; it was
perhaps this that made her look pale. "They're very good to me-they
think of everything!" she exclaimed with all her customary eagerness
to accommodate.
"We think of you always-you're a precious charge," Madame
Catherine remarked in the tone of a woman with whom benevolence was
a habit and whose conception of duty was the acceptance of every care.
It fell with a leaden weight on Isabel's ears; it seemed to
represent the surrender of a personality, the authority of the Church.
When Madame Catherine had left them together Pansy kneeled down
and hid her head in her stepmother's lap. So she remained some
moments, while Isabel gently stroked her hair. Then she got up,
averting her face and looking about the room. "Don't you think I've
arranged it well? I've everything I have at home."
"It's very pretty; you're very comfortable." Isabel scarcely knew
what she could say to her. On the one hand she couldn't let her
think she had come to pity her, and on the other it would be a dull
mockery to pretend to rejoice with her.
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