Moths by Ouida — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MOTHS. | 11 indeed fully anticipating such a blow as had fallen upon her, but ruffled, disgusted, and nervous, conscious that her daughter was traveling toward her, and furious with the person she termed a ‘‘ horrid old cat.” ; The old cat was the now dowager Duchess of Mull, who for fifteen years had kept safe in Northumbria the daughter of poor Vere, and now had hurled her like a cannon-ball at Lady Dolly’s head in this hideous, abominable, unforeseen manner, straight on the sands of Trouville, in sight of that snake in angel’s guise, fhe Princesse Helene Olgarouski! Lady Dolly, who never would allow that she gave up her maternal rights, though she would never be bored with maternal responsibilities, had quarreled for the nine-hundredth time (by post) with the Duchess of Mull; quarreled desperately, impu- dently, irrevocably, quarreled once too often; and the result of the - quarrel had been the instant dispatch of her daughter to Trou- ville, with the duchess’ declaration that she could struggle for the soul of her poor son’s child no longer, and that, come what would, she consigned Vere to her mother then and forevermore, ‘*The horrid woman will be howling for the child again in a week’s time,” thought Lady Dolly, ‘‘ but she has done it to pet and Till keep the child to spite her. That’s only air, The duchess had taken her at her word, that was all; but then, indeed, there are few things more spiteful than one can do to anybody than to take them at their word. Lady Dolly had been perplexed, irritated, and very angry with herself for having writ- ten all that rubbish about suffering from the unnatural depriva- tion of her only child’s society—rubbish which had brought this stroke of retribution on her head. } She had pulled her blonde perruque all awry in her vexation; she did not want that perruque at all, for her own hair was thick and pretty, but she covered it up and wore the perrugue because it was the fashion to do so. Lady Dolly had always been, and was, very pretty; she had | lovely large eyes, and the tiniest mouth, and.a complexion which did not want all the pains she bestowed on it; when she had not the perruque on, she had dark silky hair all tumbled about over her eyebrows in a disarray that cost her maid two hours to com- pose; and her eyebrows themselves were drawn beautifully in two fine, dark, slender lines by a pencil that supplied the one defect of Nature. When she was seventeen, at the rectory, among the rosebuds on the lawn, she had been a rosebud herself; now'she was a Dresden statuette; the statuette was the more finished and brilliant beauty of the two, and never seemed the worse for wear. This is the advantage of artificial over natural loveliness: the latter will alter with health or feeling, the former never; it is always the same, unless you come in on it at its tol- lette, or see it when it is very ill. | Lady Dolly this morning woke up prematurely from her sleep, and fancied she was in the old parsonage gardens on the lawn, among the roses in Devonshire, with poor Vere’s pale, handsome face looking down so tenderly on hers. She felta CS (ei 0) Gomicboo yo)