Not
even a housemaid could go in to sweep but he was present. Now the man's
perpetual presence was intolerable to Monsieur Maurice. He had borne all
else with patience, but this last tyranny was more than he could endure
without murmuring. He appealed to my father; but my father, though
Governor of Bruehl, was powerless to help him. Hartmann had presented his
instructions as a minister presents his credentials, and those
instructions emanated from Berlin. So the new-comer, valet, gaoler, spy as
he was, became an established fact, and was detested throughout the
Chateau--by no one more heartily than myself.
I still, however, saw Monsieur Maurice now and then. My father often took
me with him in his rounds, and always when he visited his prisoner.
Sometimes, too, he would leave me for an hour with my friend, and call for
me again on his way back; so that we were not wholly parted even now. But
Hartmann took care never to leave us alone. Before my father's footsteps
were out of hearing, he would be in the room; silent, unobtrusive,
perfectly civil, but watchful as a lynx. We could not talk before him
freely. Nothing was as it used to be. It was better than total
banishments; it was better than never hearing his voice; but the constraint
was hard to bear, and the pain of these meetings was almost greater than
the pleasure.
Pages:
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81