The only drawback to her perfect content in these early days
was the presence of her uncle Charles, whom she could not
bear, and who, for his part, looked upon her as a mere
encumbrance, and her being with them at all as a piece of
fatuity on the part of his brother-in-law. There were constant
skirmishes between them while they were together; but even
these ceased after a time, for Moore, who, ever since his
sister's marriage, had clung fitfully to M. Linders, as a
luckier and more prosperous man than himself, was accustomed
to be absent on his own account for months together, and
during one of these solitary journeys he died, about two years
after Horace Graham had seen him at Chaudfontaine. Henceforth
Madelon and her father were alone.

Madelon, then, by the time she was eight years old, had learnt
to sing, dance, speak several languages, to write, to play
_rouge et noir_, and _roulette_, and indeed _piquet_ and _écarté_,
too, to great perfection, and to read books of fairy tales. At
ten years old, her education was still at the same point; and
it must be owned that, however varied and sufficient for the
purposes of the moment, it left open a wide field for labour
in the future years; though M. Linders appeared perfectly
satisfied with the results of his teaching so far, and showed
no particular desire to enlarge her ideas upon any point. As
for religion, no wild Arab of our London streets ever knew or
heard less about it than did our little Madelon; or was left
more utterly uninstructed in its simplest truths and dogmas.
What M. Linders' religious beliefs were, or whether he had any
at all, we need not inquire. He at least took care that none
should be instilled into his child's mind; feeling, probably,