Crime & punishment > Peveril of the Peak > Volume 2

70
PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.
gradually established amongst ibem, and which
served all ordinary purposes of communication.
But, though happy in the indulgence and fa¬
vour of her mistress , from whom indeed she was
seldom separate, Fenella was by no means a fa¬
vourite with the rest of the household. In fact,
it seemed that her temper, exasperated perhaps
by a sense of her misfortune, was by no means
equal to her abilities. She was very haughty
in her demeanour, even towards the upper do¬
mestics, who in that establishment were of a
much higher rank and better birth than in the
families of the nobility in general. These often
complained , not only of her pride and reserve,
but of her high and irascible temper and vindic¬
tive disposition. Her passionate propensity had
been indeed idly encouraged by the young men,
and particularly by the Earl, who sometimes amu¬
sed himself with teazing her, that he might enjoy
the various singular motions and murmurs by
which she expressed her resentment. Towards
him, these were of course only petulant and
whimsical indications of pettish anger. But
when she was angry with others of inferior de¬
gree— before whom she did not control her¬
self—the expression of her passion, unable to
display itself in language, had something even
frightful, so singular were the tones, contortions,
and gestures, to which she had x’ecourse. The
lower domestics, to whom she was liberal almost
beyond her apparent means, observed her with