greeted me with a gravity that was not to my taste, and which gave me a
dislike to her.

After the usual compliments, I gave her the two pieces of sarcenet she
had commissioned me to get. She thanked me, telling me that her confessor
would reimburse me for my expenditure. The count then took me to my room,
and left me there till supper. It was nicely furnished, but I felt ill at
ease, and resolved to leave in a day or two if the countess remained
immovable. Twenty-four hours was as much as I cared to give her.

We made a party of four at supper; the count talking all the time to draw
me out, and to hide his wife's sulkiness. I answered in the same gay
strain, speaking to his wife, however, in the hope of rousing her. It was
all lost labour. The little woman only replied by faint smiles which
vanished almost as they came, and by monosyllabic answers of the briefest
description, without taking her eyes off the dishes which she thought
tasteless; and it was to the priest, who was the fourth person present,
that she addressed her complaints, almost speaking affably to him.

Although I liked the count very well, I could not help pronouncing his
wife decidedly ungracious. I was looking at her to see if I could find
any justification for her ill humour on her features, but as soon as she
saw me she turned away in a very marked manner, and began to speak about
nothing to the priest. This conduct offended me, and I laughed heartily
at her contempt, or her designs on me, for as she had not fascinated me
at all I was safe from her tyranny.

After supper the sarcenet was brought in; it was to be used for a dress
with hoops, made after the extravagant fashion then prevailing.