Young as she had then been, elderly statesmen had found
her worth talking to, not as a mere beauty in her teens, but as a
creature of singular brilliance and clarity of outlook upon a world
which might have dazzled her youth. The most renowned among them
had said of her, before she was twenty, that she would live to be
one of the cleverest women in Europe, and that she had already the
logical outlook of a just man of fifty.
She married early and was widowed in middle life. In her later
years rheumatic fever so far disabled her as to confine her to her
chair almost entirely. Her sons and daughter had homes and families
of their own to engage them. She would not allow them to sacrifice
themselves to her because her life had altered its aspect.
"I have money, friends, good servants and a house I particularly
like," she summed the matter up; "I may be condemned to sit by
the fire, but I am not condemned to be a bore to my inoffensive
family. I can still talk and read, and I shall train myself to
become a professional listener. This will attract. I shall not
only read myself, but I will be read to. A strong young man with
a nice voice shall bring magazines and books to me every day, and
shall read the best things aloud. Delightful people will drop in
to see me and will be amazed by my fund of information."
It was during the first years of her enforced seclusion that
Coombe's intimacy with her began.
Pages:
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243