After a time he stopped at the window, the curtain of which I had drawn,
and the shutter partly opened, and he looked out, perhaps with associations
of his own, on the scene I had been contemplating.
It was not for nearly an hour after, that my father suddenly, after his
wont, in a few words, apprised me of the arrival of Madame de la Rougierre
to be my governess, highly recommended and perfectly qualified. My heart
sank with a sure presage of ill. I already disliked, distrusted, and feared
her.
I had more than an apprehension of her temper and fear of possibly abused
authority. The large-featured, smirking phantom, saluting me so oddly in
the moonlight, retained ever after its peculiar and unpleasant hold upon my
nerves.
'Well, Miss Maud, dear, I hope you'll like your new governess--for it's
more than _I_ do, just at present at least,' said Mrs. Rusk, sharply--she
was awaiting me in my room. 'I hate them French-women; they're not natural,
I think. I gave her her supper in my room. She eats like a wolf, she does,
the great raw-boned hannimal. I wish you saw her in bed as I did. I put her
next the clock-room--she'll hear the hours betimes, I'm thinking.
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