emotion.
Caught off guard by her reaction, the Marquis froze for a moment. He gently caressed her cheek and wiped away the tears that streamed down her face.
"You have misunderstood, my beautiful child," he spoke again, his voice husky yet tender. "How could I bear to abandon you?"
"What did you mean by those words, then?" she gazed at him, perplexed.
"You will understand when you grow older, little angel," he took her now fair and tender hand in his, bowing his head to press a deep kiss upon the back of it.
The girl found the Marquis''s actions peculiar. "Why do you behave this way, my noble father?"
"You must get used to this, my love," he raised his eyes to gaze into hers. "In the future, you are going to become a noble dame."
------------------------
Margot, already sickly, soon succumbed to a consumption under the torment and harsh conditions. Curled up in the corner, she struggled to suppress the wheezing and moaning of her discomfort. Even when she had to cough, she tried to muffle the sound, unwilling to disturb her sister''s rest.
Edith immediately reproached her sister upon discovering it. "Why do you have to put on such a brave face?"
"I''m fine, Edith. I''m not feeling as bad today," Margot lowered her head, her jet-black silky hair veiling her weary face.
Seeing her sister''s submissive state, anger welled up within Edith, and she yelled at Margot, "It''s only the two of us left here, Margot! Who are you trying to impress with your bravado? Must you make me feel like a burden?"
Margot simply turned her head away, coughing softly.
Edith suddenly dropped to her knees on the straw mat, embracing Margot as she sobbed, "I''m sorry, sister!"
Margot, as always, silently stroked her sister''s back.
Edith, with a childlike indignation, pounded the straw mat beneath her, burying her face into Margot''s shoulder, choking out, "Ah, poor Aunt! And my Andre!"
The girl was trapped in an abyss of heartbreak and despair, so she resorted to reading Charlene''s letter time and again, pressing the tear-stained paper against her heart.
"I don''t even know how Raphael is doing now! He hasn''t even heard the news of poor Charlene''s dea