Part 5 (1/2)
He was frowning despite hi so close to this char that in a measure his presence and his personality interested her But he felt irritated with de Batz, and angered at what he considered the latter's indiscretion To him the very name of his leader was almost a sacred one; he was one of those enthusiastic devotees who only care to name the idol of their dreams with bated breath, and only in the ears of those ould understand and syain he felt that if only he could have been alone with mademoiselle he could have told her all about the Scarlet Pi that in her he would find a ready listener, a helping and a loving heart; but as it was he h:
”Yes, mademoiselle, I do know hierly; ”spoken to him?”
”Yes”
”Oh! do tell me all about hireatest possible admiration for your national hero We know, of course, that he is an enemy of our Government--but, oh! we feel that he is not an enemy of France because of that We are a nation of heroes, too, monsieur,” she added with a pretty, proud toss of the head; ”we can appreciate bravery and resource, and we love the mystery that surrounds the personality of your Scarlet Pimpernel But since you know him,again He was yielding hiirl's entire being, froaiety and her unaffectedness, her enthusiasm, and that obvious artistic temperament which caused her to feel every sensation with superlative keenness and thoroughness
”What is he like?” she insisted
”That, mademoiselle,” he replied, ”I am not at liberty to tell you”
”Not at liberty to tell me!” she exclaimed; ”butforever under the ban of your displeasure, mademoiselle, I would still reazed on hi for this spoilt darling of an ad public to be thus openly thwarted in her whi of her pretty shoulders and a allant! You have learnt ugly, English ways, monsieur; for there, I am told, men hold their wo with a mock air of hopelessness towards de Batz, ”am I not a most unlucky woman? For the past two years I have usedScarlet Pimpernel; here do I meet monsieur, who actually knows hiallant that he even refuses to satisfy the first cravings of my just curiosity”
”Citizen St Just will tell you nothing now, h; ”it isa seal upon his lips He is, believeto confide in you, to share in your enthusias in response to his ardour when he describes to you the exploits of that prince of heroes En tete-a-tete one day, you will, I knoorm every secret out of my discreet friend Armand”
Mademoiselle made no comment on this--that is to say, no audible comment--but she buried the whole of her face for a few seconds aht sight of a pair of very bright brown eyes which shone on hi land just then, but after awhile she began talking of more indifferent subjects: the state of the weather, the price of food, the discomforts of her own house, now that the servants had been put on perfect equality with theirquestions of the day, the horrors ofturmoil of politics, had not affected her very deeply as yet She had not troubled her pretty head very much about the social and hu revolution
She did not really wish to think about it at all An artiste to her finger-tips, she was spending her young life in earnest work, striving to attain perfection in her art, absorbed in study during the day, and in the expression of what she had learnt in the evenings
The terrors of the guillotine affected her a little, but soers could assail her whilst she worked for the artistic delectation of the public
It was not that she did not understand ent on around her, but that her artistic temperament and her environment had kept her aloof from it all The horrors of the Place de la Revolution edies of M Racine or of Sophocles which she had studied caused her to shudder, and she had exactly the same sympathy for poor Queen Marie Antoinette as she had for Mary Stuart, and shed asLouis as she did for Polyeucte
Once de Batz mentioned the Dauphin, butvoice, whilst the tears gathered in her eyes:
”Do not speak of the child towoman, do to help hi my own helplessness, I feel that I could hate my countryhts; which would be more than foolish,” she added naively, ”for it would not help the child, and I should be sent to the guillotine But oh soladly die if only that poor little child-iven back once more to joy and happiness But they would not takethrough her tears ”My life is of no value in comparison with his”
Soon after this she dismissed her two visitors De Batz, well content with the result of this evening's entertainment, wore an urbane, bland smile on his rubicund face Armand, somewhat serious and not a little in love,as he could
”You will coain, citizen St Just?” she asked after that preli
”At your service,do you stay in Paris?”
”I may be called away at any time”
”Well, then, come to-morrow I shall be free towards four o'clock
Square du Roule You cannot miss the house Any one there will tell you where lives citizeness Lange”