Part 5 (2/2)
The evenings are awful. Although it is so warm no one thinks of walking in the garden, or even sitting out on the _perron_. When we come out from dinner, though it is broad daylight, every shutter is shut and curtains drawn, and there we sit in the salon, all arranged round in a semi-circle, and make conversation, and _sirop_ comes at nine, and, thank goodness, we get off to bed at ten! But even if you wanted to talk nicely to the person sitting by you you couldn't, because every one would at once stop what they were saying and listen. There is going to be an entertainment at the Tournelles' in about a week, a kind of _fete champetre_. We are to dine in a pavilion in the garden, and then have a _cotillon_.-Good-bye, dear Mamma, with love from your affectionate daughter, Elizabeth.
Chateau de Croixmare,
_25th August_.
[Sidenote: _Croixmare again_]
Dearest Mamma,--The longer I stay, here the more glad I am that I am not French! Victorine is going to be shown to her future _fiance_ to-day, but I must first tell you how it came about. We went to Chateau de Tournelle yesterday to pay our visit, G.o.dmamma, Victorine, and I in the victoria, and Jean and Heloise in the phaeton. They were in the garden playing tennis with a party of friends from Versailles, and among them, of course, the Vicomte and ”Antoine.” They were all so glad to see me, and the Baronne called me her ”_chere pet.i.te_,” and kissed me on both cheeks, as if we had been parted for months. The Vicomte--when he had done putting his heels together and bowing to Victorine and me, and kissing Heloise's and G.o.dmamma's hands--managed to get in, in a lower voice, that his ride from Versailles now seemed to him to have been very short. Upon which Victorine at once said, ”_Comment?_” with the expression of a terrier whose ears are suddenly c.o.c.ked up on the alert. He bowed more deeply than ever, and said that he was saying it was a long ride from Versailles! So you see that Frenchmen are not truthful, Mamma! Well--then we were sent to look at the gardens, accompanied by Jean and the Cure.
[Sidenote: _An Untruthful Frenchman_]
The Comtesse ”adores” _le tennis_, and plays very well, it quite animates her. The Baronne plays too, but she doesn't hit the ball much, and screams most of the time; she was in the middle of a game when we arrived, and only stopped to pay all kinds of civilities to our party.
Her pretty feet show when she runs about, but she wears a large black tulle hat with fluffy strings, and it does not seem very suitable for tennis. I had to walk with the old Cure when the path was not wide enough to trot all together. The gardens really are lovely, with all kinds of strange shrubs and trees, and _fontaines_ and _bosquets_, and nooks, but I don't see the least use in them if one has always to walk three in a row, if not more, do you, Mamma? The Cure was a charming old fellow, and explained all the plants to me. We had no sooner got back to the tennis ground than one felt something momentous was taking place between G.o.dmamma and the Baronne. She had finished her tennis, and they were sitting away from the others, nodding their heads together.
Victorine at once put on a conscious air, and minced more than usual.
”Antoine” and Heloise seemed speaking seriously, while she examined his new racket. The Vicomte had begun a game, so could not talk to us, but some more officers were introduced, and, after the usual bowing, we began to talk.
”Vous aimez le tennis, mademoiselle?”
”Oui, monsieur,” from Victorine. ”Moi, je le deteste,” from me.
”Pas possible!” from every one.
”Je vous a.s.sure on ne joue que le croquet chez nous.”
”Le croquet,” from Victorine, ”un jeu de Couvent!”
”Le croquet! Et les anglais qui n'aiment que l'exercice!” from the officers, &c., &c.
Very interesting, you see, one's conversations here!
[Sidenote: _A Marriage Arranged_]
All this time the Baronne and G.o.dmamma were nodding their heads, and when Jean and Heloise joined them, they looked like those sets of mandarins that used to be on Uncle Charles's mantelpiece, and as we said Good-bye, the Baronne said to G.o.dmamma, ”Bien, chere madame, c'est entendu alors c'est pour demain.”
All the way home in the carriage, Victorine simpered. I felt I could have slapped her.
In the evening there was an air of mystery about them all, and, quite unlike her usual custom, Heloise came into my room to chat when I was going to bed. Of course Agnes stayed as long as she could, but no sooner had we got rid of her, than Heloise told me what it was all about. It appears the Baronne has a nephew, who has made a heap of debts; he is a Marquis, and he wants to ”redorer le blason.” It is necessary for him to secure a large dot, but he is ”si terriblement volage,” that the extreme plainness of Victorine may put him off. The Baronne has been arranging it, and he is to be brought with his parent to breakfast, to sample her!
They have not seen one another yet, and it has been difficult to get him to face the situation seriously. Victorine has been dragging on so, that the family will be delighted to let her go, even to a less fortune than she has. ”Ils devraient etre joliment contents, un gros paquet comme ca!” as Hippolyte, who knows every one's business, said to the Baronne's maid--Heloise told me--and that explains it; she said it would be such a _mercy_ if he will settle the affair at once. She had come to ask me a favour. I did wonder what it was! And you will laugh, Mamma, when you hear! Victorine is sure to be nervous, Heloise said, and in that case her face gets red, and it would be a pity to distract his attention in any way, and in short would I mind putting on my most unbecoming dress, and not speaking while the Marquis is here?
[Sidenote: _The Fiance Appears_]
So here I am, Mamma, writing to you up in my room, dressed in that horrid _beige_ linen that we chose at night, and I shan't go down till _dejener_ is ready, pouf! I can hear a carriage coming, I must go to the window. Yes, it is the _fiance_, accompanied by his mother and aunt. He is nice-looking, except that he has got a silly fair beard. I can hear them arriving in the hall; such a lot of talking!
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