But such was his chivalrous respect for Lady Icenway, and his regret
at having ever deceived her, that he schooled his poor heart into
submission. Owing to his loneliness, all the fervour of which he
was capable--and that was much--flowed now in the channel of
parental and marital love--for a child who did not know him, and a
woman who had ceased to love him.
At length this singular punishment became such a torture to the poor
foreigner that he resolved to lessen it at all hazards, compatible
with punctilious care for the name of the lady his former wife, to
whom his attachment seemed to increase in proportion to her punitive
treatment of him. At one time of his life he had taken great
interest in tulip-culture, as well as gardening in general; and
since the ruin of his fortunes, and his arrival in England, he had
made of his knowledge a precarious income in the hot-houses of
nurserymen and others. With the new idea in his head he applied
himself zealously to the business, till he acquired in a few months
great skill in horticulture. Waiting till the noble lord, his
lady's husband, had room for an under-gardener of a general sort, he
offered himself for the place, and was engaged immediately by reason
of his civility and intelligence, before Lady Icenway knew anything
of the matter. Much therefore did he surprise her when she found
him in the conservatories of her mansion a week or two after his
arrival.
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