'Sibella, take again the attitude I saw you in when I entered the wood. There, child; keep that posture a short time, your figure improves the scene.'
'Does the monument excite much wonder, Ross?'
'It does indeed, Sir,' the steward replied. 'They wonder at the expence, they wonder more at the object; and, still more than that, they wonder at the unconsecrated ground.'
'And my impiety is, I imagine, the topic of the country.' The steward remained silent. 'Andrew remember my orders, and repeat them to your fellows: I will have no idle tales fabricated in the servant's hall.'
'What are the opinions of other men, concerning holy and unholy, to me? It belongs to men of rank to spurn the prejudices of the multitude.'
Shortly after, my uncle addressed himself to me.
'A strange message, child, has been sent me from Mrs. Valmont, which you it seems have caused. What have you been saying to her?'
I repeated the conversation. My uncle smiled in scorn.
'Contemptible folly!' said he, 'The vicinity of a tomb becomes a mortal disease. It is hard to judge whether the understanding or the frame of such animals is of the weaker texture. Child, you have killed your aunt, by reminding her that she may one day happen to be buried.'
I was startled with the phrase of, I had killed my aunt; and I began eagerly to speak. My uncle interrupted me with saying: