V.
About this time the Dowager of Kehlmark, having given up her troublesome establishment and retinue of servants, to retire into a pleasant villa in an aristocratic suburb of the capital, was seeking for a trustworthy young person, something between a lady-companion and a waiting woman. One of her old friends, passing the summer at Blandine's village, spoke of the girl highly, even at the vicar's request, to the great lady, without omitting to mention the adventure of which she had once been the victim. It turned out that that particular account of the poor girl's past proved the means of winning her the sympathies of Henry's grandmother, who engaged her immediately she was presented.
But what a graceful and polished village-girl! She was the picture of health and uprightness. The contour of a modernised Greek statue vivified by rosy cheeks; eyes,
