Her salary was large, she had one
entire day in the week to herself, except at Bar Harbor, and during her
last summer in the United States Mrs. Boland had a violent attack of
"America first" and took her children and their admirable governess not
only to California but to the Yellowstone Park, the Grand Canon and
Canada. They traveled in a private car, and Gisela, who could enjoy the
comfortless quarters of a student flat in Munich with all that life
meant in the free and beautiful city by the Isar, could also revel in
luxury; and this wonderful summer, following as it did the bitter climax
of her first serious love affair, seemed to her all the consolation that
a mere woman could ask. At all events she felt for it an intense and
lasting gratitude.
2
It was during her first summer at Bar Harbor that the second determining
experience of her life began, and it lasted for three years. She dwelt
upon it to-night with humor, sadness, and, for a moment, thrilling
regret, but without bitterness. That had passed long since.
She was virtual mistress of the house at Bar Harbor, and as the children
had a trained nurse and a maid, besides many little friends, she had
more leisure than in the city with her one day of complete detachment.
She met Freiherr Franz von Nettelbeck when she was walking with her
charges and he was strolling with the little girls of the Howland
family.
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