Part 7 (2/2)
_September 1st_.
[Sidenote: _A Proposal of Marriage_]
Dearest Mamma,--I have had a proposal! Isn't it too interesting? It all happened at the de Tournelles' last night, but I never blushed or did any of the things they used to in Miss Edgeworth's novels that you have allowed me to read; but I must go straight on. We were quite punctual at Chateau de Tournelle, and got there as the clock struck eight.
Heloise looked perfectly lovely, she does hold herself and walk so beautifully, and her head is such a nice shape. I am going to be like her, and not like the women at Nazeby (who all slouched) when I am married. Victorine looked better than usual too, and Heloise had put some powder on her face for her, but afterwards it came off in patches and made her look piebald; however, to start she was all right, and everybody was in a good temper. There were lots of people there already, and the Baronne and the Comtesse received us in the hall.
I wore the white silk and my pink tulle hat. The Marquis and the Vicomte both flew across when we arrived, and the Vicomte got to me first, as G.o.dmamma detained the Marquis; and this is where Frenchmen s.h.i.+ne, for although he told me afterwards that he wanted to murder her, he stood with a beautiful grin on his face all the time. The Vicomte at once began to a.s.sure me I had promised him the _cotillon_, but I would not say; and as he could only get words in edgeways, with Victorine listening all the time, it made it rather difficult for him. Then the Comte and Rene, his little boy, came round with a silver basket full of b.u.t.tonholes and little cards with names, and by the kind of flower we got we were to know which table we were to sit at, as they were to be decorated with the same.
[Sidenote: _Les Jeunes Filles_]
Of course the Baronne had arranged for the Vicomte to take me in; and our table was pink and white carnations. Presently the whole company had arrived, and we started--a huge train, two and two, arm-in-arm--for the pavilion. It was pretty; all the trees hung with electric lights and Chinese lanterns, and the pavilion itself a fairyland of flowers.
There were about twelve tables, three of different coloured carnations for the ”_jeunes filles_,” and the rest with roses for the married people. G.o.dmamma thought it most imprudent separating them like that, and would hardly let Victorine sit down so far away from her until she saw the daughter of the Princesse d'Hauterine at the same table.
Victorine went in with another officer from Versailles, in the same regiment of _Cha.s.seurs_ as the Vicomte; he was like a small black monkey. The Marquis sat with the Comtesse at her table, and G.o.dmamma and the other bores had a table with the old Baron, etc. The Baronne had quite a young man next her. I expect she could not do with the chaperons and the old gentlemen.
Most of the girls at our table were either ill-at-ease or excited at the unusual pleasure of being without their mothers, and at first no one talked much. The French country people are almost as frumpy as the English, only in a different way, but many of the guests were very smart, and of course had come from Paris.
The Vicomte did say such a lot of agreeable things to me, and the others were so occupied with their one chance of talking to a young man that they did not listen as much as usual. He said he had never spent such an agitated night as the one at Vernon. So I said No, the fleas were horrid. He said he had not meant _them_; he meant that the sight of my beautiful hair hanging down had caused him ”_une grande emotion_”
and ”_reves delicieux_.”
There was an oldish girl next to him whom he knew; she has coiffed St.
Catherine for several years now, and was put at our table, I believe, to be a kind of chaperon. She happened to be listening just then, as her partner would talk to Victorine's friend--the pretty one with the dirty nails--who was at his other side. She caught the word ”fleas,”
and at once asked what we were talking about. ”Un sujet si desagreable,” she said. I said it was about our journey on the _Sauterelle_, where, at Vernon, Monsieur de la Tremors had been so badly bitten by the fleas that they had given him silly dreams. He said his dreams were as beautiful as those produced by the Hachis of Monte Cristo (whatever that is), so the old girl exclaimed, ”Quel pouvoir pour une puce!” She thought we were mad; and I overheard her presently telling her partner--when she could get him to listen--that no one would believe the _bizarre_ conversations of the _toques_ English unless they actually heard them!
[Sidenote: _The Cotillon_]
I would not say I would dance the _cotillon_ with the Vicomte. I told him I had half promised it to the Marquis; and when he seemed offended, I said if he was going to be disagreeable I would certainly dance it with Monsieur de Beaupre (the Marquis's name, which I forgot to tell you before). I remember hearing Octavia say once that it never did to make oneself easy to young men, that the more capricious one was the better; and you know how nice Octavia is, and I meant to be like her.
He went on imploring; so I told him that I had come there to enjoy myself, not to amuse him, so I should just dance with whom I pleased, or not at all if I happened not to want to. He said I was ”_tres cruelle_,” and looked perfectly wobbly-eyed at me, but I did not mind a bit.
As dinner went on all the girls began to talk and to get excited, and laugh, and every one was so gay; but I could see G.o.dmamma craning her neck with anxiety and disapproval, and I am sure, if it had not been for the Princesse d'Hauterine being at her table, she would have jumped up and clawed Victorine away. It came to an end at last, and we returned arm-in-arm to the house, while the servants arranged the pavilion for the _cotillon_. G.o.dmamma collected Victorine and me, and made us stay by her; and that horrid old Mme. de Visac--the one who called me a ”_jeune femme_”--came up, and they had a conversation.
G.o.dmamma said it was ”_tres imprudent_” having the dinner first, that the champagne would go to the young men's heads, and with all the care in the world no one could foresee the consequences! The garden, too! If they should dance the _farandole_! what opportunities! It was all the fault of the _chere Baronne_, so sadly giddy for her age. She never thought of the anxieties of other mothers, having married her only daughter so young! I don't know what G.o.dmamma feared, but I should hate to think you could not trust me to behave like a lady, Mamma, if I was out of your sight a moment.
[Sidenote: _Nearly a Duel_]
I saw the Marquis talking to a very young youth; he seemed pleading with him about something, and presently the youth crossed over and kissed G.o.dmamma's hand, then asked Victorine for the _cotillon_. She looked furious, but she was obliged to say yes, as no one else had asked her; it was getting late, and the Marquis was busy speaking to some other ladies. Presently he came up to us, and the young youth said before he could speak: ”N'ai-je pas de la veine, mon cher, Mlle. de Croixmare m'a promis le cotillon.” Upon which the Marquis asked me to dance it with him--right out loud before G.o.dmamma! and when I said I had half promised it to Monsieur de la Tremors, he looked so cross and offended, that I thought it was better to be firm with him, as I had been with the Vicomte. He--the Vicomte--came up just then, and they looked as if they wanted to fight each other; so I said if they would stop frowning, I would dance it with both of them, but if they were nasty, I should not dance it with either; and so that is how it ended, I was to have one on each side.
G.o.dmamma said to me that it was unheard of conduct, and might have produced a duel, and when I tried to explain to her that that was just what I had avoided, she looked angrier than ever, and would not understand. Wasn't it stupid of her, Mamma?
[Sidenote: _The Two Partners_]
At last we got to the pavilion, and all sat round, and having both the Vicomte and the Marquis to talk to, I did have fun. They arranged that our chairs should be against the wall, and not in the row that the chaperons were behind. G.o.dmamma tried to make signs to me to come and sit by Victorine in front of her, but I pretended not to see, until all the chairs were filled up. The Marquise de Vermandoise was next me, with the Vicomte between; she was dancing with the Comte. We _were_ gay! The first set of presents were big brocade bags, and we called one our ”_pot au feu_” and pretended it was for the ingredients to make _bon menage_, and so all the presents that were small enough afterwards we put in there to keep for me. I did have _lots_! A _cotillon_ is very easy, Mamma, as you have often told me, and it was fun dancing with all sorts of strange people that one did not even know. In one figure a huge Russian prince got hold of me, and squeezed me until I very nearly screamed; you see, Mamma, how dreadful foreigners are like that. It was like being hugged by a bear in the Zoo; and after it, he kept giving me flowers or presents if I dared to sit down for a moment, but he did not say a word except once or twice a mumble of ”Adorable mademoiselle.”
My two partners _were_ nice, we had a perfectly beautiful time, they laughed at everything I said; and Madame de Vermandoise leant over and whispered--while they were both away doing a figure--that never had any one had such a _succes_ as me, and that all the old ladies would be ready to tear my eyes out. Heloise did not dance with ”Antoine,” but he sat next her, and they talked while his partner was away with other people. It is much better to have two partners, Mamma, because then one is not left to oneself at all, and they are each trying to be nicer than the other all the time. The Comtesse led the _cotillon_ with a cousin of hers; he does do it well, and does nothing else in Paris, the Baronne told me. At last we got on towards the end, and they began the _farandole_. You know it, Mamma? A lady and a gentleman take hands, then she beckons some one, and he has to come; and then he calls another lady, and so on. It goes on until the whole company are hand-in-hand; and the leader runs about everywhere with this chain of people after him, dancing a long sliding step, to such a lovely go-ahead tune. The leader tears all over the garden, and one is obliged to follow in and out. It is too exciting, and just as we got to the furthest end of the illuminated paths, and had rushed round into the dark, some one let go, and in the confusion of trying to catch on again, the Marquis and I were left behind.
[Sidenote: _To Elope with the Marquis_]
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