‘No,’ said Amy, ‘there is no hope of that; but he is more active, because his general health is improved; he can sleep and eat more.’
‘I always thought exertion would do more for him than anything else.’
Amabel was vexed, for she thought exertion depended more on health, than health on exertion; besides, she thought Philip ought to take some blame to himself for the disaster on the stairs. She made no answer, and Guy asked what Philip had been doing to-day.
‘Walking over the hills from Como. Do you always travel in this fashion, “impedimentis relictis”?’
‘Not exactly,’ said Guy; ‘the “impedimenta” are, some at Varenna, some at the inn with Arnaud.’
‘So you have Arnaud with you?’
‘Yes, and Anne Trower,’ said Amy, for her maid was a Stylehurst person, who had lived at Hollywell ever since she had been fit for service. ‘She was greatly pleased to hear we were going to meet the captain.’
‘We amuse ourselves with thinking how she gets on with Arnaud,’ said Guy. ‘Their introduction took place only two days before we were married, since which, they have had one continued tete-a-tete, which must have been droll at first.’
‘More so at last,’ said Amy. ‘At first Anne thought Mr. Arnaud so fine a gentleman, that she hardly dared to speak to him. I believe nothing awed her so much as his extreme courtesy; but lately he has been quite fatherly to her, and took her to dine at his sister’s chalet, where I would have given something to see her. She tells me he wants her to admire the country, but she does not like the snow, and misses our beautiful clover-fields very much.’
‘Stylehurst ought to have been better training for mountains,’ said Philip.