Read "A Broken Blossom, Vol. 2 of 3" by Florence Marryat online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
There was something mysterious about Mr. Lovett's manner and behaviour after he returned from that visit to Rille, which I could not account for. In the first place he was in the very best and highest of spirits, and the most extravagant dinners appeared upon the table for two days in consequence, whilst he lavished more than his usual affection and caresses upon his daughters and myself. Then, there seemed to be preparations going on for some great event.
A peasant woman was hired to clean all the upper part of the house, and for forty-eight hours remained on her knees in an attitude of adoration, scrubbing vigorously at the boards whilst Madame Marmoret stood over her and shrieked that she was a pig and a fool not to work faster. A spare chamber that had possessed no furniture of its own except a bedstead, suddenly became habitable, by reason of articles being secretly abstracted from our rooms, to repair its deficiencies.