The kerchiefs I will restore, as Sancho says he has them; as to the garters that is impossible, for I have not got them, neither has he; and if your
handmaiden here will look in her hiding-places, depend upon it she will find them.
Somehow, with the assistance of the beautiful Foulata, who, since we had been the means of saving her life, had constituted herself our
handmaiden, and especially Good's, we managed to get off the chain shirts, which had certainly saved the lives of two of us that day.
Each of us, of course, was extremely anxious about the good appearance of the beloved object; and, though I was the one to glean compliments ashore, B- had the more intimate pride of feeling, resembling that of a devoted
handmaiden. And that sort of faithful and proud devotion went so far as to make him go about flicking the dust off the varnished teak-wood rail of the little craft with a silk pocket-handkerchief - a present from Mrs.
Doctor, the good
handmaiden became reconciled to her presence, and told her cronies at the Glen that Miss Cuthbert was a fine old lady and knew her place.
The domestics, after being carefully searched and disarmed, were confined in another part of the castle; and Rowena was refused even the comfort she might have derived from the attendance of her
handmaiden Elgitha.
The girls rang rather timidly, and were admitted by a grim and ancient
handmaiden. The door opened directly into a large living-room, where by a cheery little fire sat two other ladies, both of whom were also grim and ancient.
There was the nurse, no hired
handmaiden of death, but one whose calm affection had endured thus long in secrecy, in solitude, amid the chill of age, and would not perish, even at the dying hour.
The ubiquitous
handmaiden promptly appeared, and Archer heard Madame Olenska say, in an Italian that she seemed to pronounce with intentional deliberateness in order that he might follow it: "Here--throw this into the dustbin!" and then, as Nastasia stared protestingly: "But no--it's not the fault of the poor flowers.
Of course it was beautiful; but there was something more than mere beauty in it, something more stingingly splendid which had made beauty its
handmaiden. He sprawled silently on the ground, watching the grisly form of a great doubt rising before him.
'How lovely your hair do curl tonight, miss!' said the
handmaiden.
There were only the old housekeeper and her
handmaiden in the house, so that on the plea of not giving too much trouble I could indulge what my other half calls my fantaisie dereglee as regards meals-- that is to say, meals so simple that they could be brought out to the lilacs on a tray; and I lived, I remember, on salad and bread and tea the whole time, sometimes a very tiny pigeon appearing at lunch to save me, as the old lady thought, from starvation.
Two fairies were they; the younger, it is true, was not Dame Fortune herself, but one of the waiting-maids of her
handmaidens who carry about the lesser good things that she distributes; the other looked extremely gloomy--it was Care.